Straight Hucklebuck

Best pick - Kyle Williams. Bills Wall of Famer in the 5th Round and spent 13 years in Buffalo? Pretty good. Worst Pick - I don’t see how it can be anybody other than Maybin. Zero sacks with the Bills, by the second/third week of Training Camp you could sense he was a problem (arguing with Wood, getting mauled in practice).

I think through The Drought years, stretching into today, the Bills have continuously brought in the weakest backups imaginable to prop up their starters. Kelly Holcomb, Jeff Tuel, Tyler Thigpen, Derek Anderson, Gilbran Hamdan, Brian Brohm, Matt Cassel, Thad Lewis, Kevin Kolb (I know signed to be the starter), talking Kyle Orton out of retirement, Nate Peterman and now Matt Barkley. If they signed Winston right now, they know there would be a QB controversy, so while I think McDermott cares about competition, the FO purposely keeps the bar on the floor for Josh Allen to jump over.

I think the Bills could use a DE, another LB, and a playmaking RB. I don’t need a contrast in styles to Singletary, in fact, get me someone faster as the co-back. Outside of the Draft the Bills should upgrade backup QB. If Barkley has to play, the Bills are screwed.

That’s a good call on Punter. It may be a make fun of position, but Borojquez had some brutal 30-yard punts late in games that hurt the Bills, and rarely had the field changing punts, 50, 60 yards.

There have been some weird missteps with McDermott and Beane. 2017 clearly was more McDermott influence on the roster because Beane wasn’t there until after the draft. The insistence on Nate Peterman, the parade of ex-Panthers: Joe Webb, Mike Tolbert, K Clay, Star L, trading for Benjamin, a love for old running backs that play too much in Ivory and Gore, more QB decisions where you have to ask yourself why - McCarron and talking 35+ year old Derek Anderson out of retirement, and the Darby trade for Jordan Matthews was unnecessary and then cutting Jeremy Kerley, signing Tyrelle Pryor and then cutting him, not sure why Lee Smith continues to hang around either, Trent Murphy has been a FA bust for the money he is making. But ultimately they have been proven right on Watkins and Dareus, and Ragland. And the money saved by those moves made the 2019 focus on offensive line a success, both Brown and Beasley fit in, Jordan Phillips off the scrap heap was gold, and making the decision to cut McCoy. They also work magic with the secondary. They still have an incredibly weak backup behind Allen, and Gore showed they still want a power element with past their prime running backs, going after Greg Olsen was concerning because it was another broken down ex-Panther, but they redeemed that and more with the Diggs trade. So it seems they’ve largely figured out improvement formula around Allen by investing in the OL, getting some youth in the backfield, obtaining in their prime WRs, and pushing fringe NFLers off the roster in place of more talent. I’m not sure what Beane saw in Tyler Kroft. Their biggest blind spot seems to be past their prime veterans, and the Coaching staff plays them entirely too much. And that has McDermott written all over it.

The 2010 offseason where Nix took over was the most embarrassing offseason I've ever seen. From the Russ Brandon "scanned a list of names" press conference, the Kelsay extension, the Marshawn Lynch trade, switching to the 3-4 defense, hiring Chan Gailey who was out of football, keeping both of Dick Jauron's failed Quarterbacks, a horrendous draft where almost all the capital was spent on 3-4 players who stunk and starting Trent AGAIN. I forgot all about Derek Anderson already. Another player who was in retirement when the Bills came a calling. Man the Bills dumpster dive when it comes to QB historically.

Good call on McCaron Ducky, he completely flamed out. Even with Beane and McDermott, the Bills protect their starting QB's with no competition. Tyler Thigpen, Brian Brohm, Jeff Tuel, Gilbran Hamdan, Thad Lewis, Matt Barkley. Right now Jameis Winston and Cam Newton are out there, and the Bills wouldn't dream of signing them because of the threat that would imply on Josh Allen. And I get it, you don't want to spend more on a backup than your starter, but Edwards, Fitzpatrick, EJ, Tyrod and now Josh have the weakest backups imaginable.

Kelvin Sheppard is one, starting MLB on LSU? Nope he stunk. I thought Cardale Jones would have turned out better than he has, but he looks absolutely lost when he is out there. A lot of the old Bills message board was wrong about Malcolm Kelly. He was softer than ice cream.

Chris Ballard gets a lot of run, has he earned that, or is that carry over from the Chiefs?

The structure around EJ was ridiculous. A 73 year old GM, a rookie HC, rookie OC, who also doubled as the QB Coach, Kevin Kolb after his failure in Arizona, with Jeff Tuel and Thad Lewis. But it has to be noted: He had a Coach that punted from the Pittsburgh 36-yard line, down by two scores, in the 4th quarter with a 3-6 record. Also, Florida State went from 8-4 to winning the National Championship when EJ left. Listening to Doug Whaley talk about EJ’s presence when talking to the season ticket holders, but never once mentioning how EJ actually threw a football.

Would you like the Bills to cut him? Elevate Lee Smith or Jason Croom to starter?

I agree with you on Ebron, you see in Fantasy that production for Tight End goes off a cliff after the first few guys, but starting with his Combine, he’s never been the physical mismatch he was hyped to be.

I like Knox, especially the running over of opponents and burning the Steelers. But I can’t stand Lee Smith on the roster for his “blocking” or Tyler Kroft who is constantly hurt.

Shaw, we’re coming to a mutual place on this Allen issue, it’s been a fun discussion. I think there a few reasonable starting points: 1. Allen showed real growth in 2019 verses 2018. 2. 2019 Allen is not good enough to really win at a high level. 3. Allen’s performance has been inline with his Scouting Reports with regards to accuracy, and lack of dominant college, now NFL production, but with the great tools. So it was a classic prototype size and arm pick, hoping to Coach up out the flaws, without Coaching out the aggressiveness. The best case scenario is Allen breaks away from his game manager numbers and harnesses his potential. The worst case scenario is the Cincinnati Bengals. A talented roster ready to win, but ultimately held back by their QB going 0-5 in the Playoffs until slowly but surely the roster got older and piece by piece was taken apart by free agency losses. So while Beane and McDermott take the long view, they also have to face ownership and the fans. Being in the Playoffs 2/3 years has bought them goodwill and trust. The bar has been so low, for so long, that 2019 was refreshing. A true, no gimmick, 10 win season. The Bills are still building. Tre White will need an extension, Milano will need one, Dawkins will need one, and the 5th year option will need to be picked up on Allen. Balancing out an aging Jerry Hughes, Star L, and Trent Murphy. You have to enjoy Beane’s aggressiveness, with better awareness and discretion than Whaley showed. The Bills are making the push now to win, and plateauing with first round Playoff exits will eventually necessitate at minimum a real threat at backup QB. So all this to say, after the Draft, it will be interesting to see the tone of expectations that Beane and McDernott set when they face those questions.

Allen will be an interesting study. Quarterbacks usually are judged long term by how they pass the ball, but he does have 17 combined rushing touchdowns in 2-years. Tannehill was judged a disappointment in his time with Miami, and Allen has work to do to reach the passing numbers Tannehill was putting up in 2nd, 3rd and 4th seasons. Jameis Winston is viewed as a turnover machine now, but came out of the gate as a 4,000 yard/20 TD passer. When considering the long term, the most important thing is Allen leads the offense to more points, which is a way of saying I wonder if he can get there as a passer.

If it pushes Lee Smith off the roster, than do it. Same with Tyler Kroft. I never want to see Lee Smith in a Bills uniform again.

I've heard analysts saying the exact opposite. That it is a poor Tight End draft, with the highest grade being low 2nd Round pick.

Shaw66, how do you know that they think like this though? You’ve said this all so definitively. Really? Like it was hard to predict a Mountain West Honorable Mention with low production in college and questionable Scouting Reports was going to struggle at the NFL. Like anyone fan on here that said “I told you so” was a clairvoyant, when Greg Cosell and other analysts laid out his flaws on the radio everyday, when his Scouting Reports predicted his rookie year to a T.

He escaped his first concussion without being hurt terribly.

I think we’re thin at Linebacker and DE.

“He is getting more time to grow and improve, right now is his time” - I assume you didn’t read that part. Yeah I don’t want to hear about how raw he was coming out of college two years ago. He has 28 games under his belt now, and our GM determined he was worth moving up for in the Draft despite the rawness. And if the plan wasn’t for him to start right away, do better than Nate Peterman as the starter. Beane is paid to know more than the fans.

I explicitly said the exact opposite in the post you referenced, but when you don’t have the facts pound the table I guess.

Beane and McDermott chose that though. They chose to gut the 2018 offensive skill position players, they chose a QB with middling college production. It’s not relevant to keep going back to how raw he was 2 years ago. This is his third year with the same coaches, with better players around him, with a defense that is keeping teams below 17 points per game. He is getting time to grow and improve. Right now is his time. If Allen never got a bit better than he is right now, then he would not be a starter for the 15 years he wants. So he has no choice, Beane and McDermott have no choice but to get him to improve. As I’ve said, he has the work ethic, but watching tape and correcting mistakes does’t mean they’re solved on Sundays.

The truth is Bills fans love the underdog, Rudy Ruettiger, win one for the Gipper, story. Players like Fred Jackson, Kyle Williams, Doug Flutie, Steve Tasker epitomize the Bills franchise. So with Allen there is an attachment to the overlooked prospect, that became a diamond in the rough, because that symbolizes the City of Buffalo. I keep harping on it, but the same things were said about Trent, Fitzpatrick and Tyrod. Nobody gave them their “shot”. Allen is right in the middle of his shot now. Become a superstar, be a Top 5 QB, and I wouldn’t care if it wasn’t blue collar enough.

Beane is doing the right things. McDermott is conservative and maddening sometimes with his love for ex-Panthers and veterans, but he's steady. I guess my point was the GM is adding talent all over this team. They need Allen now. 2018 - He played exactly like his Scouting Reports said he would 2019 - He played on the positive side of those Scouting Reports 2020 - He should break out of the game manager mode and start the climb up the ranks