Shaw66

What's wrong with Maclin and the Bills? they aren't negotiating on Sunday? Their fans are waiting! Maybe they're trying out a few of these recipes. You guys are serious cooks. Last night it was just asparagus, fresh Italian sausage (hot and sweet) and peppers an onions, all on the grill. Then built a fire in the backyard and just chilled for a couple of hours. And now, back to football.

Not to dismiss a discussion about Crohns, which IS a nasty disease, but inquiring minds need to know if JM2009 is a reference to when you first became a Jeremy Maclin fan.

It ain't over yet.

So what do Bills fans do to get him to make the right decision?

The question is the magnitude of the "mistake." The magnitude is significantly smaller than this thread. Would Beane prefer it if Chris Brown hadn't hyped Maclin so much? Yes. Did Beane say something to Brown and his boss about it? Maybe. Does it make any difference in terms of the Bills' ability to win games or sell tickets? No.

People keep coming back to this thread, hoping for news. Holding on until the dagger has COMPLETELY pierced the heart.

He might be higher on the Bills' list, too, for the exact same reasons. Bills have been desperate for a red zone target.

We don't know what he wants, but the Bills know exactly what he wants. Both sides are pretty direct about what they want in these things. If they're close enough that they think they can make a deal, they talk about how they could restructure to get enough of what both sides want. Obviously, that process wasn't able to bridge the gap in Buffalo. Maybe it will work for Maclin in Baltimore, and maybe it won't. If it won't, he'll reconsider his own idea of his value and keep looking. It's important to remember that teams have wildly different views of the value of players. The value to any given team varies with the teams' cap situation, the talent it has at the same position, the age of the talent they have, the impact they think the player would have on the team's play. Beane and McDermott think about factors like that and other factors, and they decide what it's worth to pay for the player. The circumstances at the Ravens will generate a different number. It doesn't mean Beane was wrong and the Ravens guy was right. (Much like the Gillislee decision - just because he was worth $4 million to the Pats doesn't mean that he was worth $4 million to the Bills.)

First, I think what you're saying is correct, except that the way the Bills reported this is about how they always have done it. When press reports get to be pretty clear that something's going on, Chris Brown reports on the press reports. He doesn't report news like this with information from within. It's just outside news. And I believe they've also done interviews in the past with Bills players about they're interest in getting a guy. Not often, but occasionally. Still, seems to me that if I'm the GM I don't want my organization doing this. Second, you make it sound like it's an important lesson to be learned. This isn't a "hard lesson." This is a truly minor event, at most an irritant. Six months from now, if the Bills are over .500, NO ONE, absolutely NO ONE will be talking about the fact that the Bills may have overhyped the possibility of getting Maclin. If the Bills are below .500, some people may be ascribing it to the failure to get Maclin, but NO ONE will be complaining because Beane allowed Brown to overhype the possibility. It's about wins and losses and more or less nothing else. I said the same thing six months ago. Remember six months ago? The press was plastered with stuff saying the Bills were "dysfunctional," a dumpster fire" and all that. The Bills can't do anything right. The acting head coach got steam-rolled by the press at his first and maybe last Bills press conference. Then Whaley held a press conference and the press crucified him. Then the press went after Terry Pegula, because he doesn't handle the press well, either. Does ANYONE care about that now? ANYONE? Would you rather manage the press well than less well? Of course. Does failure to manage the press well cost the Bills money? Sure doesn't look like it. First, most of the revenue comes from the league, not anyone who reads the Bills home page. Second, the current level of management of public relations doesn't seem to have affected ticket sales. Did Doug Whaley get fired because he wasn't great with the cameras on? The exact same Doug Whaley would still have his job if the Bills had gone 11-5 and he'd been horrible with the press. Hey, did you see the Pats fired Bill Belichick because he gives lousy press conferences? Might Beane declare internally that the Bills won't report that way again? Sure. But if he has trouble sleeping tonight, do you think it will be because (a) Jeremy Maclin didn't sign or (b) Chris Brown may have led some people to believe that Maclin WOULD sign?

sounds correct

Did Beane tweet?

We DO know that he ran the football personnel side of the business until McDermott arrived. My point is that all of the decisions before McD arrived were his, and all of the decisions after McD arrived were based primarily on information Whaley's organization developed. So if we like what the Bills have done in the off season, a lot of the credit fairly goes to Whaley. Would Whaley have made all the same decisions (like drafting Jones)? I don't know. But Whaley developed all the information on which the Jones choice was made.

My view, too. As McD said before the draft, he thought the Bills #2 guy was already on the roster. Then they drafted Jones. So at that point they seemed set at WR. Then Maclin unexpectedly drops on the market. If they can sign him it's great team building. And I have to point that Whaley was better than all his harshest critics suggest. WHALEY let Woods go and signed the Holmes, Brown and the others. WHALEY drafted Jones. And Whaley would have been in the hunt for Maclin, because Whaley had managed the cap situation well enough to give the Bills the room they need to sign Maclin. People will say that McDermott ran everything since the day he took over, but he didn't build the scouting organization, he didn't single-handedly generate the evaluations of the free agents the Bills signed before the draft, he didn't scout Jones like the Bills scouting organization did. That was all done under Whaley's management. It doesn't make Whaley a god, but he was a capable GM. When Woods played injured, he barely functional. When he played healthy he was good, but even at his healthiest, he wasn't the threat Maclin has been.

The comments are kind of cryptic, but it IS a great review of Buffalo eateries.

Maclin combine - 4.45. Woods - 4.51. Watkins - 4.43 I've always thought of Maclin as a guy who doesn't have top end speed but enough speed to get deep. Woods had barely enough deep speed. There's no question that Maclin, when healthy, is a deep threat. I think of him as an elite #2 receiver (or a marginal #1). If healthy, Sammy and Maclin on the field together would be one of the best tandems in the league.

No doubt he's a good receiver. And tough. To be honest, I'd be happy if the Bills signed either.

I also think he benefited from playing with Peyton. A good receiver playing with a great QB always puts up better numbers than he's actually worth. Deion Branch is the prime example, and there are others.

Decker might be the better possession receiver, and therefore he might be more valuable in the Bills offense. Maclin's more explosive.

Congratulations to all you posters. This is one amazing thread. Just a bunch of Bills fans hangin out, hopin for some news. In the meantime, shootin the breeze about whatever interests them. I check in every few minutes to see if there's any news, and the conversation's taken another turn. Quite entertaining. Great job!

Same with me. I hadn't looked at this for days. Those gifs are great. I like the possibility too. He's not a number one guy but he is close. Best insurance if Watkins goes down. If they're both playing its a dynamic combo.

Yes. And in two years all of those good decisions will look like bad ones when the Bills hire Rob Ryan and he cleans house. Round and round we go.

Nice analysis. There's a lot of pressure on Hughes and Lawson.

I agree. Analysis of the roster does very little for me. Plus, even the roster analysis is light. The Bills are probably BETTER at safety than they were last year, and there's a good chance they're no worse at corner. They lost Brown and gain Ragland. What happens at receiver is much dependent on what Watkins does. If he's what he should be, the Bills have more than enough talent at receiver to replace the guys lost. The roster isn't the issue. The coach is the issue. And there are only two questions about the coach: Will he succeed? How soon? After that, Tyrod is the only question. If the Bills get two good answers about the coach and one about Tyrod, the rest of the roster is fine.

Awful contract? His average salary is 6th in the league. He's a top 10 tight end playing on a team that doesn't throw the ball. Not sure it's all that horrible.

The Tyrod narrative around here is unbelievable. In 2016 the Bills threw fewer passes than any other team and playing 15 games Clay finished 8th among tight ends in receptions. In 2015 the Bills threw the second fewest passes in the league and playing 13 games Clay finished 12th among tight ends in receptions. So how in the world are people concluding that Taylor doesn't see Clay? I know, you sat in your basement for three weeks straight and watched All-22 and counted the times you think Clay was open and you think Taylor should have seen him and thrown to him. Or you saw a stat someplace that said Taylor throws over the middle less than other QBs, and since the TE runs patterns over the middle, Taylor wasn't throwing to Clay enough. How often could Taylor possibly have missed Clay when Clay's a top 10 receiver among tight ends playing for the offense that passes less than any other offense in the league. The question isn't why didn't Taylor throw more to Clay. The question is why didn't he throw more to the wideouts.