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At one point he was pretty good but watch his market this off season. He lacks speed and the ability to break away from defenders two things coaches want big time today. Matthews is hard to judge because he was injured for majority of the year and outside of the Jets/Falcons games I don't remember him much because of that.

IF he and Gronk are gone that Patriots offense will lose some real explosion next year even with Edelman back. Gronk is virtually uncover-able at points, but Lewis could be worse due to his versatility.

100% agree. Ralph was loved by the players and I remember the one drought offseason he spent like 70 mil on Derrick Dockery and Langston Walker to try and upgrade on line. After Donahoe though he became really cheap for front office and I think that experience hurt him. He tried to fix that later on with Buddy Nix and going after Bill Cowher but he was too old and the reputation/instability of the team long term made it a very tough hire. This is why I give Russ Brandon an enormous amount of credit for the work he did to stabilize things so when the team was sold it had a firm base regionally and Marrone wasn't a bad hire at all in retrospect compared to Jaruon or Gailey.

Basically I broke it down like this: Denver- Good D and some weapons on offense but tough division, some cap tightness, and coach isn't very great. Also isn't Cousins the 3rd best QB in this division behind Rivers & Carr? I think he wants somewhere that offers more favorable schedule. Arizona- Defense is good, offense has weapons, stadium is awesome plus indoors, and Wilks looks like a strong coach given the staff he has. But this division is turning into an arms race again and not a single game divisionaly would be necessarily easy compared to playing in AFC or NFC North. Also with Fitzgerald playing for only another year they need more at WR. Jets- More cap space then the Bills but more holes and same situation as BUF being the AFC with Brady, PIT, AFC South etc.. The WR corp is a mess and Anderson's arrest only hurts more. The Jets to me feel more like a perfect spot for Darnold or Rosen to grow with a rebuilding roster not a win now type vet. Cleveland- No one could offer a contract the size CLE could where they could front load the first two years $90 million strong and still have a ton of cap space. The defense has some real talent and should see an uptick this year. If your Cousins despite CLE reputation if they tell you your getting Saquon Barkley, Sammy Watkins, & Randall Cobb for instance to go with Josh Gordon, Duke Johnson, and David Njoku plus that mammoth contract and a division which after PIT is not imposing at all how many other teams really offer a better chance other than maybe MIN & JAX? True definition of darkhorse right here. Jacksonville- JAX seems pretty set with Bortles short term especially after the recent contract extension. If there was one team in the AFC that felt like a perfect fit who could take on for real NE/PIT it would be JAX with Cousins but they don't seem interested enough. Buffalo- We have a chance at Cousins with the draft picks being used to solidify the roster and some of the roster space. But he has to face Brady/BB twice plus you have PIT also waiting and an AFC South that quickly has some real teams with talent, I think he stays away from the AFC because of this. Also with all the moves McBeane has made I just don't see them doing something this aggressive. Minnesota- Best roster of talent by any of the teams looking for a QB and even with GB/Rodgers the division is not imposing. Also NFC is wide open also which is why I picked the Vikings as Cousins landing spot especially with Keenum and Bridgewater most likely leaving.

If Whaley gets a second chance with a head coach he is gets to pick or is very close with I wouldn't be surprised if he is moderately successful to really good. His drafts were good minus 16 which like you said was Ryan, he could find guys in FA for next to nothing that worked well, and he got some real steals trading wise. His two big problems were contracts and coexisting with the coach if the coach played a player that wasn't Whaley's guy. I think those two things are fixable.

2015 is the better example offense started Woods, Watkins, Glenn, Wood, and J. Miller on opening day 5 of 11 all drafted by the Bills. Defense started Dareus, Bradham, P Brown, Gilmore, Darby, McKelvin, and A Williams on opening day 7 of 11 drafted by Bills. Rex in year 1 didn't lose much from the Bills D or O. After that he purged a lot/Whaley's contract extensions hit the team hard. The 2015 Bills were without a doubt the most talented team they've had since 1999 IMO performance just never matched thanks to Rex.

Not surprised by this. I recently commented on a Doug Whaley post that he actually drafted pretty decently until 2016 and that last years roster was buoyed by vets/2017 draft class big time. Here is the list of starting caliber players we drafted (2012 on) that are gone: Sammy Watkins, Robert Woods, Marquise Goodwin, Nigel Bradham, Ross Cockrell, Kiko Alosno (traded for Shady so wash), Ronald Darby, Reggie Ragland, Stephon Gilmore, and if you reach back one year further Marcell Dareus also. Obviously you cannot pay all of them, but we reshuffled the deck for a 3rd head coaches scheme again and lost talent. Now it worked out a lot better I like McD a ton, but Rex is a direct reason why Bradham isn't here and Ragland was drafted which shows how much changing coaches impacts your lineup especially with how much Bradham could be used now. By the way the 2016 draft is case and point what happens when you miss big time on your picks only Adolphus Washington and Shaq Lawson are even left on the roster. So yea the Bills have work to do but the positives are the 2017 draft went incredibly well with White, Dawkins, & Milano as a strong base and they have a lot of picks this year even if they trade for a QB to add more depth.

Agreed and basically the middle three games go as followed: NYJ: Team was overhyped and defense just straight missed tackles. Mix in the offense turns the ball over 3 separate times including once when we would've tied the game at 10-10 and twice inside our own 40 and our D didn't have a chance to make many other mistakes. NOLA: Offense was never on the field, team morale wise looked lost, and NOLA exploited the middle of our D which was transitioning without Darues LAC: Peterman and the entire team quit come the second half minus a select few. Also for some dumb reason it took 3 horrendous games on D for the coaches to realize Milano should've been starting over Humber. BUT to their credit they fixed and played far better after that.

This has been an issue for me for a while. I love football and I understand that things evolve so I am good with the limiting of head hits by defenders. What I hate though is how the rules are soo slanted for offenses now. God forbid you touch a WR remotely past 5 yards, if a QB is grazed anywhere not in his middle its 15 yards, QB's are virtually never called for intentional grounding, etc.. after a while its off putting as a fan. One of the issues the NFL has with the catch rule is if they just did it where the moment its caught its a catch without 3 steps etc.. there would be wayy more fumbles and turnovers which team coaches freaked out about. This is probably the same reason the intentional grounding rule is such crap. Even these two minor adjustments would give the defense a better shot and IMO a closer better played game. I hate in general how the league has went from QB being the primary focus in the game to the only focus. QB mattered a ton in the 70-80-90s BUT you could still win if you had a good RB defense and average QB play. That just doesn't exist anymore. I am not saying I necessarily want the 9-3 Carolina game either weekly, just a little bit more back in the favor of the defense.

This would be the point I remind the OP that Tyrod Taylor himself hit the open market and came BACK to Buffalo for less because suitors didn't think he was worth the money he wanted. Bridge QB's are exactly that and all it takes is one team possibly BUF that puts enough money and term on the table that sells them to come here.

No and honestly I could care less about them really did nothing for me as a fan. I think cheerleaders and other sports that have ice girls etc.. are eventually going to go to the wayside in sports in the next decade. Society is changing pretty quick and a lot of this is seen now as objectifying women by a lot of people not entertainment. Additionally as the NFL tries to expand its viewership and increase all demographics especially female I see them shifting away from that type of piece of entertainment during the game. Like I said it did nothing for me either way as a fan, but that is just kinda how I see things shaping out.

I wouldn't want to go unless I was concerned universally a Top 10 guy where at least I knew I wouldn't fall out of the first round. Although in general I would rather be with family and friends rather then the draft anyway.

I personally think they are more sold on Darnold then Rosen by a little. Rosen is the most pro ready QB in terms of skill and playing in a pro style offense, but Mayfield to me has the safer floor which to me is a QB equal to Joe Flacco pre ACL injury. Rosen I think could have higher upside but I could see him potentially flunking out in the wrong situation, I don't think Mayfield would flunk out.

Um excuse me but on Madden 2004 I directed the Lincoln Hawkeyes (Moved AZ Cards to Lincoln NEB we had sick unis) to 9 consecutive Super Bowls and we won 5. My football knowledge is vastly superior then virtually anyone on this board with the exception of maybe Dunkirk Don

O line is def a need and I expect them to add to it, but they still have some capable guys even with Wood out. That front 7 desperately needs an infusion of talent with Washington & Lawson not living up to expectations and pretty much Hughes being their only true solid player that is not ancient (no offense Kyle Williams haha).

I wouldn't say his drafting was that bad. He did draft Watkins, Bradham, Darby, Woods, Kiko, Goodwin, and Ross Cockrell all of which went on to be solid NFL contributors. 2013-14-15 he drafted 3-4 starters per draft and as others have mentioned he did really well grabbing guys like Hughes for pennies on the dollar and the McCoy trade really was a steal. Things went south for him for 3 big reasons: 1. EJ Manuel. EJ was his guy despite Buddy Nix being the "GM" at the time. He did grab Tyrod which worked out better, but had he grabbed a true franchise guy he is probably still here. 2. Rex Ryan. The roster Whaley had with Marrone was quite solid on D and this team misses a guy like Bradham at OLB who was a casualty thanks to Rex. The 2016 draft might as well of just been named the Rex Ryan GM draft because it was all his guys and everyone minus Lawson/Washington are gone which is incredibly bad. Fair or not to Whaley Rex was probably the worst type of coach for the type of roster Whaley was working with with how he churned through players. 3. Contracts. I am a believer sometimes its not a good thing when an owner tells a GM they can just spend money without regard. Whaley was relatively smarter pre-Pegula spending money. Once the go ahead was given in 2015 the contracts went out and we still are feeling these years later to the point 2019 will be the real year Buffalo finally is free of most of the dead money with the Bills having on paper for that year already 85 million in space not factoring in Eric Wood or Cordy Glenn either. I wouldn't say Whaley was bad in free agency either because he seemed pretty good at plugging holes like Brandon Spikes for Kiko or my personal favorite Bacarri Rambo. In the end I think Whaley was better then given credit for and with a second chance and the lessons learned he'd do a bit better also.

My belief is if the Bills plan on moving up they will be cutting Taylor so capspace wise they around 44-45 million. They need at minimum DT, DE, LB, and WR big time. With that capspace if they could grab Star Loutelli, DaQuan Jones, Avery Williamson, and Donte Montcrief to solidfy those big needs then sacrificing 2x 1st, a 2nd, a 4th, and next year 1st or 2nd would be plausable because they have enough quality players to fill holes. Free agency for me will be the big thing that shows their hand one way or another. I can't see them trading that high if they don't get 2 impact front 7 guys like Loutelli Jones or Williamson.

Probably because the NFL draft is littered with "can't miss guys" who bombed out and guys who "have major questions" that turned into studs. If the Bills like a guy to the point they feel that strongly then go for it and be done. It's better then waiting like they did with Losman and instead of going for Big Ben. Gunner good draft. It falls in line with a lot I've been reading. Only thing I may disagree with is Zona trading up to #4 I think the Browns want to draft high this year after acquiring soo much the last few years.

I mean on Madden I was able to groom Peterman into a 40TD machine and we won 3 straight SuperBowl so I don't see what is so hard about this championship thing

Offseason -LeVeon Bell agrees to a new 4 year 15 mil a year a deal with PIT setting a new bar for non QB players. Proceeds to get injured week 1 and completely make everyone regret that decision -Kirk Cousins signs with the Cleveland Browns. This creates a ripple effect where the Browns trade picks with the Jets who select Sam Darnold 1st overall, Browns also grab Barkley. -In the 1st 12 picks 5 QBs are taken (Darnold NYJ, Rosen NYG, Mayfield DEN, Allen ARZ by trade with SF, Jackson LAC by trade with CIN).. none by the Bills who can't move up to grab one and instead draft defense heavy in the 1st round. -The Bills do grab Mason Rudolph in the 2nd round though -Jimmy Graham also signs with the Browns thanks their boat load of cap space -Bill Belicheck announces it is his last season and Gronk does retire -Trumaine Johnson moves over to the 49ers from the Rams who quietly put together a good defense again 2018 Season -OAK rebounds from a disappointing 2017 by winning the top seed in AFC -PIT wins the AFC North only at 10-6 with Big Ben showing his age and lacking Bell to help out. Additionally the Browns finish a surprising 8-8 buyoed by a greatly improved offense and become the sexy future pick by NFL media -KC craters to 5-11 when Mahomes has an uneven season and the defense is filled with holes. Reid retires after this. -The Bills start off 1-4, but after Rudolph takes over for an injured Luke McCown he rallies the team to an 8-8 record going 7-4 and they just miss the playoff. But he gives fans a real belief that the QB position is ok finally. He also throws for 300 yards 3 times and Bills fans literally don't know what to do. -The AFC South is the division to beat in AFC with both Wildcards coming from there (IND & JAX) and Houston taking the division -In the AFC IND stuns a declining Patriots team in divisional round -The Eagles take the top seed in the NFC again at a blistering 14-2 record -Carson Wentz returns to wins MVP -The 49ers get a WC seed, but the real surprise is the Bears who finish at 9-7 with a greatly improved roster -The Packers fail to make the playoffs again despite a healthy AROD and Mike McCarthy is dismissed -Pete Carrol retires after another lack luster 8-8 season -Dallas returns not only to the playoffs but finally to the super bowl against the Oakland Raiders who dispatch the boys in a thrilling SB to bring one last title home to Oakland -And....a new Bills stadium is announced...not east of Buffalo... but downtown

Seattle truthfully I think is personal and potentially generational preference. I think they are one of the top 5 unis in the game and very distinctive. Some people view similarly others think they are trash. But they sell a ton of them and teams usually don't like to switch out of the uniforms they've won titles in. I have not heard of any changes to the Hawks at this point. Tampa Bay I agree is an abomination and to me was a downgrade when they switched to these. The people I follow on the uniform side like UniWatch have said there is talk at least to adjust the numbers. They did release the jerseys in 2014 so potentially they could make changes in 2019 if they wanted to. The Titans are releasing new uniforms this year in April.

There is a disturbance in the force I have felt it. Loads of "Bring Him In" and "Sign Him Now" threads are in preparation of invading our world

WRONG THE DECISION WOULD NEVER HAD HAPPENED IF THE ORGANIZATION WOULD NOT HAVE HIRED AN ANALYTICS TEAM. That is in caps because I literally listened to both the Eagles and the analytics company say as much. If you want to keep your head in the sand the same way a lot of baseball people did in the early 2000s be my guest and watch as others blow by you. No one is arguing that having years of knowledge in the NFL is invaluable and absolutely a major help to your team. For some reason people like yourself want to argue and deny that people who are numerically experts at formulating key numbers and predicting scenarios to help guide your decision making can add a tremendous value to any teams operation even though their background may not be in football. Every sport these days is adapting in some fashion to using analytics in some capacity because it can help increase a teams chances of not only winning but constantly evolving to be in the best place for success. Hockey was a sport where being physical was key and now its a fast paced puck controlled game because of analytics. Basketball has become a 3 point shooting paradise with big mens value greatly lowered because the game favors good shooters instead. Baseball has been covered well on the analytical impact. What's truly remarkable with this is no one is saying analytics is at all more important then having tremendous knowledge of the game, teaching fundamentals, and having a skilled coach. There is plenty of room for coexistence in a very healthy way that already has been proven to work. In regards to the draft the only thing major analytics people have said like Bill Barnwell is that having a lot of draft picks is key because the draft really is a lottery of luck and even he would say the Browns fundamentally messed up by continuously not selecting a QB.

It really depends on what they are having him do. If he is looking into formulas and simulations for situational analysis which would clearly show punting on 4th and 2 from the 40 is a poor decision or a certain formation for the team is more successful against X opponent etc.. then yea his background doesn't matter and that is information that can really help. The "gimmick" you refer to is a huge reason why the Eagles won the SB because the coaching staff realized with the numbers presented that playing it safe wasn't enough to really have a shot and it helped to shape the team of scheme and offense they ran. Now analytics in regards to say the draft? Yea I have no clue how much that really would help because I am not even sure what the heck you would quantify.

You are correct. Once you make a major change to your primary uniform you have to keep it for a minimum of 5 years. The league has to be notified by March 1st of the prior league year also. It can take up to two years for the jerseys to be changed between designing the uniforms, testing them for TV to make sure colors numbers and names all are readable, and just market testing in general. You can change the helmet and pants in certain ways ala the Rams this year but not the uniform. The Browns already are in the process apparently of revising their uniforms again by 2020 after just changing them in 2015. On a side point many people ask about the helmets and why the Bills can't do red or Patriots white for Pat the Patriot. The NFL has a one shell rule where the helmet a player wears has to be inspected by the league and approved. It is far too difficult to change the color weekly because of this which is why the standing Buffalo decal and stripes are easy to swap in, but its difficult to do the red.