SCBills

One would think that may change under Dorsey. I certainly don’t want to be run heavy, but I wouldn’t hate a more effective run game to take the heat off Allen and provide more deep shot opportunities.

I agree with some of what you, in premise.. but there’s also the reality of how the draft board falls. Unless we wanted to be ultra-aggressive and/or reach, it was not a good draft for us to take a WR early. We’ll see if Shakir is truly the “Day 2 guy who fell to Day 3” steal that everyone says, but - as a guy who really wanted a WR early - I don’t know where we were supposed to go. Honest question.. have you watched James Cook play? I live in SEC country, surrounded by Dawgs fans, that dude could easily be a WR. It seemed to me, at that point in the draft, we just took the best weapon on the board. Happened to be a RB. I could be persuaded that Jermaine Johnson may have been a better pick for our system over Elam. We’ll see how these guys pan out.. but we didn’t lose games defensively because of our corner situation, they were lost due to the DL not being stout against power run teams or being able to finish against top QB’s. We’ve obviously addressed those two concerns, but I have zero issue going overkill on the lines.

What if Benford is that dude, but Elam isn’t? Does that matter? For the record, I do think Elam is legit. He may take some time, but he has the talent and drive to be successful. Are Diggs and Davis any less of a WR Tandem just because they weren’t RD1 Draft Picks?

We obviously seem to be drinking the Kool Aid on this class, but I’m not sure I remember hearing so much positivity about a rookie class in previous memory.. Elam is a guy that people seem to be showing objectivity on. Recognize the potential, but admit he’s struggled against Diggs & Davis. Cook sounds like the real deal. Reports aren’t delusional.. he has things to work on (pass blocking), but he sounds like an absolute weapon who is better in the run game then we even initially thought when we drafted him. Bernard has good reports, and I don’t claim to know a ton about him.. but I’ve seen highlights of him blitzing and the dude screeches across the LOS like a blur. Shakir has glowing practice reports, and all I know is I saw him adjust to that TD pass in the scrimmage like a veteran wide receiver. We seem to have our cost controlled upgrade at punter for the next four years, plus guys like Benford and Spector are pushing to make the 53 (Benford may already be a lock) and this is a loaded roster .. so if a late round rookie makes it .. they’ve earned it.

That’s the thing though .. Buffalo is more of a college atmosphere. In general, NFL atmospheres can’t hold a candle to a big time college game. Buffalo is the outlier.

-Loaded WR Draft (Same thing happened to Davis) -Teams weren’t sure where to play him (inside, outside, gadget..) -Short arms / Not a big body outside WR / Not a pure slot He has solid speed, tons of versatility and great hands.. but in a monster wide receiver draft, he slid.

I’ve been someone also over-dramatically concerned about outside WR depth, and that Shakir highlight just made my heart flutter..

Watching Von and Ed bond is amazing. Signing Von may be worth it for the development he may bring out of Oliver & Rousseau alone. Nevermind the next few years of him wrecking dudes off the edge.

Sure.. All I'm saying is reviews from practice about McKenzie have been amazing.. and if that continues, having him at 2 yrs/8M vs Diontae Johnson, a similar player, albeit more proven, could be quite the feather in the cap for Beane.

This. McKenzie still has to show he can do it for an entire season, but McKenzie at $4M vs Johnson at $18M is good cap management in my book.

He's their starting slot, no?.. Claypool - Johnson - Pickens

Hearing these practice reports about McKenzie, who we just signed for a 2yr/$8M deal, and then reading that Diontae Johnson just got a 2yr/$36M dollar extension...

Man.. watching Ed Oliver on NFLN... that dude just gets it. I know nobody is Aaron Donald, but I think Oliver has a chance to be the next best thing.

He got a shout out on GMFB... going to be hard to stash him if we keep talking him up like this. Looks like we're going to keep (6) White, Elam, Jackson, Johnson, Neal and Benford on the 53 once everyone is healthy.

Kyle Brandt is a national treasure. I’m genuinely concerned that someone could dislike him so much. His Bills fandom is a shtick.. He likes good football and passionate fans, so he likes us, but he’s not a Bills fan. I could care less. Thank goodness for him and GMFB.. I’m not trying to watch ESPN’s trash morning shows or Skip & Shannon.

Poyer, Edmunds and Knox will all be up for new contracts. Gabriel Davis and Ed Oliver, although both under contract, could blow up this year to the point they become priority extensions. A couple mil extra for Poyer, couple mil extra for Singletary and all of a sudden we are staring down the barrel of being unable to afford one of Davis-Oliver-Knox. I don’t care who is extended, who we let walk out of Singletary-Edmunds-Poyer, as long as it doesn’t affect the first three guys I listed.

This is why it gets so frustrating hearing some podcast guys, like Buffalo Fanatics, just yell to pay people like there aren’t future ramifications. Another reason we’ve gotten deals done, where KC hasn’t, is because Diggs/Dawkins didn’t demand what Hill/Brown have demanded. A guy like Poyer, while doing all the right things, seems like a guy who could contract demand his way out of Buffalo after this year. And nobody should hate him or Beane for it.. sometimes it’s just business. Gabriel Davis, if he has the year many are predicting, could also become a new deal candidate next off-season.

Can't hate the Norwell suggestion. We could've afforded his contract. It seems that they targeted Saffold from the jump.. we'll see if that was a good decision. Kromer is a beast, so I'm pretty open to giving his personnel decisions the benefit of the doubt for now. I just don't know what could have been done at RT. Sky is the limit for this OL if Brown hits, and they clearly believe in him, but with his injury history.. scary gamble on a guy trusted to protect the Franchise. RT is becoming as valuable as LT in the modern NFL. Top tier dudes rarely become available, and if they are, they require 4 yr/Big Dollar investments. Even if we sacrificed rotational DL guys, we still don't have that money/future cap space, and Phillips is a 1 year deal.. Settle/Jones on 2 year deals. Nobody on the DL, outside Von, is a vet under contract beyond 2 years. They opted for Quessenberry, a Kromer fit, who doesn't break the bank but has shown he can start in this league. I'd be lying if I said that I'm not concerned about RT as of early August, but I just don't know what the answer was.. aside from drafting a Tackle early, but Trevor Penning went 19 and we basically have that same dude entering year 2 in Spencer Brown.

Dang... all that compensation for Tyreek Hill and then they lose a Day 1 and Day 2 Pick over this as well. Fins better hope the signings they made this year all hit.

I agree with you about the heavy investment on the Defense, but man... I don't know that I can go at them for their handling of the OL.. -Dawkins and Morse are studs. -They brought back Ryan Bates to be a starting OG, who Bills fans, and other teams fans, were all wanting. -They signed Roger Saffold to be the starting LG, on a stop-gap one year deal, as a guy who can also help Kromer install the system. -They signed decent vet depth in Quessenberry and Mancz. Brought back Boettger to rehab on PUP. That leaves Brown at RT. And you can criticize them for banking on Brown being A) Healed up from surgery and B) Capable of being that dude at RT... but we weren't really in a position to draft a RT that would be any better than Brown's potential or Quessenberry's ability. We don't have the money to really tie up big $$$ into a long term RT contract via FA and/or trade. If I had to guess, Saffold was brought in as a stop-gap to hold down LG with quality play until we can spend a Day 2 pick on IOL next year. Brown is the cost-controlled high potential hope at RT for the next 3 years. That may or may not be the right decision.

I don't dispute that at all .. We didn't really get the Offense moving until Josh Allen went unleashed and starting doing everything. My point being, Matt Ryan is probably in the Top 5 of QB's we faced last year, and he was surprisingly good for a warm weather/dome QB in a bad weather game, on a bad team, where their biggest weapon in Kyle Pitts went down. I know he's from Boston College, but that was over a decade ago. We had no business giving up 20-something points to them if he doesn't inexplicably slide at the 1/2 yard line and then taunt Poyer. Our Defense was lights out against mediocre to bad/young QB's, but was nowhere near resembling a #1 Defense when we played Brady/Mahomes pt 2 and two power run teams with Henry/Taylor. Someone pointed out that the Pats were statistically one of the better offenses we faced last year, but does anyone truly believe that?.. Mac Jones, born and raised in the South, melted down when the weather started to turn. We got him 3x in that stretch. I believe the addition of Von, Jones, Settle, Phillips, Elam and the growth of Rousseau, Basham and Epenesa truly makes this a #1 Defense... but last year, they were elite in name only.

On paper, I think Buffalo has the best Defense in the NFL heading into this year .. but last year, they were wildly mediocre against any good QB. We were “shenanigans on a Matt Ryan slide” away from going down to the wire at home against Atlanta in poor conditions.

Bills Defense played 4 good offenses all year. Chiefs during their slump, Titans w/ Henry, Colts and Bucs. 1-3 in those 4 games, with the Defense providing barely mediocre resistance (at best) in the losses.

We are paying an elite QB, an elite WR, an elite CB and an elite EDGE. At some point you can't just pay every position. You have to trust your drafting and development. The Bills re-signed Bates, signed Saffold, hired one of the best OL coaches in the game and then signed vet depth. What did you want them to do? Draft OL over Elam in RD1? Spend big $$$/trade for a RT over the combined contracts of what we spent at DT for Jones, Settle and Phillips? I could potentially be convinced of the latter if there is a specific player you had in mind.. as you and I are usually in agreement that we have spend way too much in money/assets on defense while expecting Allen to fill in any hole on offense. That being said... at the end of the day, sometimes you have to trust your scouts and development. Most fans, I'm assuming, are comfortable with 4 of the 5 starters, no? We have a very good LT and C, and solid vet LG and then re-signed our high potential, coveted RG. If Spencer Brown is a disaster and/or Quessenberry can't hold down RT, then you can say "I told you so", but I'm not going to freak out on the FO because we are early in training camp and a guy is out due to a freak car accident and other guys for personal reasons. Brown is high risk, high reward... but the other 4 starters are legit and we have better OL depth than most teams.

Re: The OL.. Any team missing a bunch of starters is going to struggle. Aside from them drafting a guy like Parham on Day 2... What did people want us to do? Kromer/FO obviously didn't want Parham. He was there for the taking and we took a LB. We could've gone OL in RD1 or Rd2 and went CB/RB. I can't say I have an issue with either Elam or Cook in those spots. I'm very comfortable with Dawkins - Saffold - Morse - Bates. You can't predict a guy will get in a car accident. In terms of depth, who are these teams that have better depth OL than the Bills?... Quessenberry looks like OL6 backing up OT and OG positions. Then we have Mancz and Ford as vets who likely make the team as experienced depth, along with Doyle as the developmental Tackle. Which brings us to Spencer Brown. I too am getting concerned about his recovery. On paper, this is a middle of the pack OL. The potential to be better than average relies upon Bates showing he's legit as a full season starter and Spencer Brown making the jump in his second year. Kromer can only do so much if we are playing musical chairs all year with Spencer Brown.