SCBills

The schedule to start the season is tough. Was thinking we can just bring Tre White back slowly, but him being ready to start the season would he massive. Either way, him staying healthy is far more important than rushing him back. Kaiir, Taron and Dane will have their hands full Week 1 against Stafford/Kupp/Robinson/Jefferson if White isn’t ready to start the season. Same thing Week 3 with Miami and Hill/Waddle, but Tennessee (2) and Baltimore (4) don’t exactly have a ton of ammo in the WR passing game. Also glad we don’t open with Miami, so we can get a glimpse of their new offense and how they plan to use that speed.

Schedule makers would be wise to put Russ and Kyler in primetime early season.. Nobody wants to watch those two struggle after the mid-point.

Oh, I’m not worried about this year. I’m talking about having a developmental prospect on the roster who can eventually become TE2.

I’d feel a lot more comfortable at TE if Wydermyer beats out Sweeney. Sweeney had a chance this past year, specifically Jax, and was a disaster. Last year of his deal.. he doesn’t seem to show TE2 potential.

Is Oweh a bust? Seems weird to make that comment regarding a late 1st in Rousseau and a 2nd in Basham. If people want to make judgments about Epenesa, valid.. but it’s way too early for the other two.

We're basically adding three high end pieces in Von Miller, Kaiir Elam and Tre White to the Defense that finished the year. Also upgraded the DT room with a true run stuffer and more talent in the rotational guys. DE room, outside of Von & Shaq, is comprised of 3 guys who are all at the point where big jumps are expected. Should 1 or 2 of them make that jump... this Defense will be absolutely dominant. I've been pretty consistent that we are investing way too much in the Defense at the expense of the Offense... and I do still feel that way while looking at an OL that's decent, but could use another piece or two and the lack of a true Outside WR3, but I have to admit that this Defense - on paper - looks absolutely insane.

I don't know if they'll be statistically better, because we play better teams/quarterbacks this year. However, I do think they will legitimately be elite/feared.. and not in the paper tiger sense that they were last year.

Beane was on WGR this morning and it certainly didn't sound like we're all set.

Interesting interview with Beane on Howard and Jeremy.. Sounded like we are still very much in the outside WR market. I think our top five are locked down, but only two of them are pure outside receivers. The other three are more suited for the slot role. Not sure what we'd do with Kumerow if we brought another guy in. Stevenson & Hodgins could probably be stashed on the Practice Squad.

You seem to be the only person on the internet that doesn’t think Kaiir Elam is a Day 1 starter. You say you’ve seen him play quite a bit.. So have I. I live down south, best friend is a Gator fan and I’ve been to multiple UF games. Elam can ball.. and his ‘20 tape is up there with Stingley’s. ‘21 fell off a bit, but the team around him was a dumpster fire. Also, this isn’t old school football, teams typically have multiple RB’s… especially a team like Buffalo that is never going to value the traditional workhorse RB position. Pass catching RB was our RD2 pick.. not a starter, per se, but he’s going to play a lot. After CB & RB, the only position where we could’ve drafted a starter was at OG. Tell me which Guard we should’ve drafted, and when? You can say Parham, who we clearly didn’t want, but someone like him likely isn’t beating out Saffold or Bates.

We took a starter in RD1 After CB, the only places we had openings for starters were RB and OG. The only RB1 that made sense for us was Breece Hall, and the Jets snagged him in the very beginning of RD2. Im not sure there were any late RD2 OG’s that could supplant Bates or Saffold.. perhaps. Definitely not in RD3, and we had a chance with Parham on the board and clearly weren’t interested. My only criticisms of this draft are that I don’t buy the whole “look at the group of pass catchers as a whole unit and not by position” line WGR folks keep telling us. Perhaps that will work just fine, but I’m still worried about Diggs or Davis missing any time and all of a sudden it’s Kumerow/Stevenson out there or a Slot WR, of which we now have 3. Also, I feel like we simply threw away our only OL pick. Dude is a less athletic, more awkward Tommy Doyle.

This is his ‘21 highlight film. He’s not going to die the second he gets hit.

You would think Trevor Lawrence would be lobbying for him in Jacksonville.

One of my best friends is a huge Gator fan. He’s always pretty honest about guys from there and Kaiir Elam is one of his favorite players since Tebow.

Really a sad story. Ross was destined to be a Top 10 pick before the injuries. I’d have loved to take a flyer on him in the 7th given we don’t have much depth as true outside WR’s, but there must be the thought that he's never going to play football again.

James Cook. Get him a bit more bulked up and he’s designed in a lab for the Bills Offense.

Beane already said he would’ve used the 4th on Shakir if he had it. He doesn’t give af about our OL worries lol

Completely agree with you about the worry at outside WR. Sal keeps tweeting about “think of the group as pass catchers and not positional players” but that still doesn’t make sense to me, even if that’s truly what we believe. Diggs and Davis have different skill sets and strengths than Jamison Crowder and Isaiah McKenzie. That’s a fact. As talented as our weaponry is.. and Singletary, Cook, Knox, Howard, Diggs, Davis, Crowder, McKenzie, Shakir etc is a very talented group…we are still a high angle sprain or hammy pull to Diggs or Davis from Kumerow, Stevenson if he makes the team, or a slot guy having to take meaningful snaps outside. Im guessing Shakir would be outside depth, but while he can do it.. it’s not his strength.. at least based on his college film.

If Tua and Wilson make any kind of jump, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see NE finish last in the AFCE. Unless NE builds Mac a dome and Kraft can pay schedule makers to schedule all Northeastern away games in the early Fall, he’s going to struggle. Mac might get somewhat better, but high floor, low ceiling and once it got cold, he turned into a pumpkin. Doesn’t help that NE easily has the least amount of top end talent of anyone in the Division.

Wilson doesn’t have a noodle arm. I’m not saying he’s very good, rookie year was rough, but he can sling it.

You also have to take into consideration what the teams look like now. Chiefs/Packers lost Hill/Adams. Our draft probably adds another two top 100 picks if we traded away Diggs. Last year I thought our Defense was a paper tiger. Above average, but not the #1 Defense. That was more a product of schedule than play on the field. This year… This might be the legit #1 Defense. Von-Jones-Oliver-Rousseau Epenesa-Phillips-Settle-Basham-Lawson Edmunds-Milano Bernard-Dodson Elam-Taron-White Jackson-Neal Poyer-Hyde Hamlin-Johnson That Defense, on paper, has absolutely absurd potential. Talent, depth, it has everything.

Beane was certainly true to his word of wanting to get faster on Defense. OUT CB2 Levi. IN Elam. OUT LB3 Klein. IN Bernard.

Our OL didn’t get “blasted” end of last year though.. Maybe we’re overrating Kromer’s impact on the OL, but we’ve also seen teams with good OL’s be able to continue so with injuries/turnover, and the one constant is their coaching. A big issue last year was our Tackle play was a mess at times. Dawkins battling covid issues most of the season and Brown being an incredibly raw rookie. Not a coincidence they got better when Dawkins finally started looking like Dawkins and not some body snatched impersonator. From my view, Dawkins and Morse are both very good players. The other 3 guys we’re kind of hoping on.. Hoping that Bates is for real and Brown makes a second year jump. Also hoping Saffold has one more good year in the tank after an off-season getting healthy. Quessenberry, Doyle, Ford & Mancz as healthy depth.. Not awful, but also not great. Dorsey’s Offense does look like a lot more easy, quick throws to get YAC which may help the OL look better by default.

I said in another thread that due to how the board was falling before our picks, it seemed we were on our heels a bit. That doesn’t mean we had a bad draft. On the contrary, I think Beane and Co. did a really good job. While we may have wanted OL help, they clearly did not. They had chances to do so, most evidently when Parham was there for the taking and we took Bernard. Perhaps a bit of a reach, but we had no RD4 pick, and clearly wanted to make sure we locked down this player. I see his fit in our Defense. Basically a Milano clone. Gives us good depth and the ability to throw 3 LB sets at teams without losing coverage ability. We lost our RD4 pick because the Chiefs jumped us to take McDuffie. I don’t necessarily believe we had McDuffie rated higher than Elam, or vice-versa, but I do think we would have taken either. So when the Chiefs took McDuffie, we couldn’t risk Dallas, or someone else trading up, taking Elam. Cook, like Bernard, may have been a bit of a reach due to scheme fit. Not every team wants a undersized speed LB in RD3 and not every team wants primarily pass catching back in RD2. However, for us, Cook is a home run pick. Absolute monster potential. We recovered value on Day 3 in taking Khalil Shakir, by using some ammo we got trading back on Day 2 to get a WR, who like Gabriel Davis, had Day 2 talent but was pushed down by the incredible depth of the WR class. Then we took Matt Araiza, and who can complain about that. Benford seems like a guy our scouts did a ton of work on, and we know this staff can coach up late round/UDFA corners. Tenuta and Spector seem like camp bodies, maybe PS. Not terribly impressed with Tenuta, seems like there’s 0.0% chance he even makes it out of camp, but whatever. Wydermyer as a UDFA is worth watching. Overall B+ Our top 5 picks should all make the 53 and contribute in some way this season. Elam is a Day 1 starter and Cook joins Motor as a RB tandem that suddenly looks like it could be, dare I say, a strength.

I would’ve liked a legit outside WR with some speed and size, but with the way this draft went, we would’ve had to take one at 25. Absolutely insane runs on WR’s. Luckily, similar to the year we got Davis in the 4th, this was a loaded WR class that allowed us to take a really talented WR in Shakir twenty spots after we took Davis. Cook is an absolute home run pick. He can be an absolute monster in this Offense. Our starting five on the OL is likely set. They signed Quessenberry as swing tackle insurance if Doyle doesn’t make the jump and, for whatever reason, Kromer must see something in Ford. One of these days, we’ll give Allen a blue chip draft pick on Offense (hopefully), but Cook & Shakir is a really nice pair of weapons.