Straight Hucklebuck

We say things like this all the time. This is a good class for this, this a good class for that. But this boils down to 2-3 guys usually. 2014 is supposed to be paramount example - Watkins, Evans, Beckham, Cooks, Adams. Evans is the man, 9 straight years of 1,000+ yards and Adams. Otherwise, Watkins was a bust, Beckham was good for 4 years, Cooks can't settle on a team although he has been productive. So if that was the Mount Rushmore of WR classes, then you're most likely not getting more than 2-3 WR1's in any class anyways. But is it logical to avoid Johnston Smith-Ngijba Addison Flowers Hyatt Downs Dell And say they're not good enough?

I wouldn't trade him, just do what you say 2 lines later: load up the offense.

100% agree. And he's come up small in some of our Playoff games. Buffalo has always had a one-deep mentality. Listen, our QB isn't as good as Mahomes, and our Coach isn't Andy Reid. Which means, you're going to need as much talent around him to compensate for that gap as possible. Love Diggs, but we knew this when we traded for him. He was 26/27, not 21 like Jefferson.

Yeah we really didn’t, don’t have the personnel to do it. It was Diggs-Davis-Knox and there was marginal contribution from everyone else. It’s not a big cost to take a Day 1 or y 2 pick and get another talented WR. You’re not getting that in FA. We’ve done the FA path and it’s a bunch of washed up veterans.

It will be slim if there is a run before 27 - Johnston, Smith-Ngijba, Addison, Flowers all go ahead of the BIlls. Then I think the Bills have to consider Hyatt there, because Hyatt and Downs aren't making it to #59, and at that point you're down to Parker Washington and Tank Dell, who aren't #2 WRs.

Isn't a part of this a better mesh between the GM and the HC/OC. If Dorsey and Allen are aggressive, that's okay, if Beane can get the correct type of WRs on this roster. There has been a lot of Allen needs to take the check downs that are available, but what if the other way is explored? Get more explosive WRs so that you can run an offense that makes the other team defend every blade of grass. We can't do that right now because past Diggs, every other WR we have has a limited skill set. Gabe runs two routes and is 4.54 on a good day, Isaiah McKenzie is not reliable and gets lost because of his size, Beasley is 34 years old and hovers around 9-10 ypc now, Shakir was a rookie so McDermott is still understanding who he is as a person (he said this in a press conference about Kaiir Elam late in the season), and there is nothing after that worth talking about. Diggs has just enough deep speed to enable the bomb, but he's more a route tactician. What if the Bills drafted for speed, a Jalin Hyatt in Round 1, Zay Flowers, making a trade to get more vertical speed on the roster? I think Dorsey would look better with a consistent slot WR, and Gabe moving back to the #4 role in the offense. It's a big ask, but I don't think a Frank Reich suddenly makes Gabe Davis stop on a dime better.

I guess I didn't think re-working the entire OLine was just one thing, but I think this team needs another elite traits WR on this team by the start of next year. We pick 27th overall. Are all of the following going to be gone by 27? Jaxson Smith-Ngijba Zay Flowers Quienton Johnson Jordan Addison Jalin Hyatt Josh Downs

I just don't want Allen to fall into the Ben Roethlisberger camp of body regimen. Where it was said about Ben that his idea of working out was a "light yoga session and then hitting the sauna". I just see the body fat percentage on Allen, and I would think he would want to maximize his scrambling ability, by tightening up some. Also, some workout to the shoulders and arms because of his 2nd UCL injury would seem logical. Also of Kyle Brandt time talking about joking around, but I do wonder if the offseason dedication is there. Also, speaking of conditioning, I was kind of alarmed to see Gabe Davis with Bert K and he has a full-on belly.

Do you remember what episode of the Brandt podcast he said that in?

And it shows, he has a pooch gut. You're onto something I've picked up on as well, from that show. I didn't hear Allen say he never works out, but he has talked about how when he works with Jordan Palmer, he is constantly trying to joke around, where as Burrow is all business. From that point on I started wondering about his weightroom training. He didn't get asked much in the way of off-season training at his last 2022 press conference, just if he was going to work with Palmer.

And in general, the Bills have to invest more and hit on offensive draft picks. No WRs, no Tight Ends, it’s been running backs and mid-round lineman for the most part. Beane needs a great draft.

Eagles had no answer for Kelce, he was running free in the secondary. There still doesn’t seem to be anyway to limit him. The Chiefs had some slick run plays were Pacheco and McKinnon would slide across the formation and take the handoff, instead of head on. In the second half, the Eagles had problems getting the ball to Smith and Brown. There were long stretches of the game where I said where is Brown, Smith hasn’t touched the ball forever.

Beane traded for Diggs in 2020 and from that point on he stopped trying to get elite talent on that unit. It’s been picking through garbage bins for lineman, and washed up veterans at WR.

Yeah McDermott doesn’t get that benefit of the doubt anymore, and neither does Beane. They haven’t had a good draft in 3 years.

The defense will take a noticeable step back, but is it smart to have two $100M contracts on defense? Resigning Edmunds will take virtually of the available cap dollars.

Just goes to show you how futile it is in 2023 to try and build around defense. All those wasted picks on the DLine. Eagles were Top 5 in the regular season and didn’t sack Mahomes and gave up 38!

Remember when the Bills kept a kickoff specialist? And he couldn’t even get it out of the end zone reliably?

I want WR in Round 1. What this team also needs to realize is they have the biggest piece to a great offense already, a franchise QB. So what they need to do now is decide what kind of offense they want to be and draft and sign those those type of weapons specially. Don’t let the Buffalo media bully you into this run first, Kurt Warner approved, checkdown offense. If you want deep shots, aggressive then you’ll need a Jalin Hyatt. If you want a route running offense, then it might be a volume WR like Jarvis Landry in FA, or Jaxson Smith-Ngijba. But our Buffalo media was all over Allen and Dorsey for how the Miami Playoff game looked, the lack of efficient underneath routes. I think you can have that offense, but the Bills have to draft that way, instead of peanut buttering everything and trying to do everything well. The bottom 3 WRs on this team need to go, two of them are FAs already. Pick a direction Buffalo and start investing in that path.

Why does Cover 1 keep thinking we have all these extra draft picks for more Defensive Lineman? We have 4 WRs under contract for next season, one starting RB is a FA, Boettger, Saffold, Van Roten are free agents, and Quesenberry is a FA too. Lets keep hammering away at DLine! But these are the guys that like our weapons as is offensively.

Yeah you’re right let’s keeping going with our old FAs and late rounders. And yes I know Diggs was a 5th Rounder.

Like a lot of fans, I watch the Bills closely and so Joe Marino doesn’t tell me anything I don’t already know. I don’t mind Cover 1, but with video lengths routinely over 1 hour, 45 minutes, I have to pick and choose when I can sit down and listen to all that.

People are working through thoughts on how to improve the Bills.

Gabe’s got a picture up right now on Instagram or Twitter with Bert Kriescher and he’s got a full beer belly 3-weeks after the season. So I don’t want to hear about him being the hardest worker on the Bills. Draft a Round 1 WR.

I’ve heard the same kind of analysis as Simms had from Greg Cosell who said the Bills have no offensive rhythm and the run the ball because it’s something they’re supposed to do. But what I don’t hear is the follow up / one step further analysis that comes after that first statement. And a thought I had on that was tempo. The Bills don’t vary tempo, instead they opt to drain every second of the play clock before snapping the ball. In regards to Allen, Warner’s tape showed that there are underneath routes built into the offense. Is Allen cerebral enough to take advantage of that going forward? I don’t know. So that’s where I say, one thing he can control is his fitness and there I see and opportunity. Hope he is working with Palmer again this off-season. But I don’t know how serious he is with the diet and weight room. But I think he can do more in those areas.