SoTier

When you give up a fortune in draft capital to move up to draft a first round QB, what higher "priorities" can there be than adding a WR when your team didn't have a single NFL starter caliber WR on the roster???? I disagree. Veteran players who move to other teams are known quantities to the NFL talent evaluators while college players entering the NFL are much less well known. When veteran players fail on new teams, it's much more often that the team trading for them or signing them put those players into situations that don't fit their skill sets than that veteran players suddenly quit once they get a big pay day. Furthermore, don't discount FO incompetence or hubris is teams' failures in acquiring veteran players.

I don't think that the QB bust rate has changed. What's "changed" I think is simply our perspective. In the last decade (2009-2018) these QBs have been drafted in the first round: 2009: Matthew Stafford (#1), Mark Sanchez (#5), Josh Freeman (#17) 2010: Sam Bradford (#1), Tim Tebow (#25) 2011: Cam Newton (#1), Jake Locker (#8), Blaine Gabbert (#10), Christian Ponder (#12) 2012: Andrew Luck (#1), Robert Griffin III (#2), Ryan Tannehill (#8), Brandon Weeden (#22) 2013: EJ Manuel (#16) 2014: Blake Bortles (#3), Johnny Manziel (#22), Tony Bridgewater (#32) 2015: Jameis Winston (#1), Marcus Mariota (#2) 2016: Jared Goff (#1), Carson Wentz (#2), Paxton Lynch (#26) 2017: Mitchell Trubisky (#3), Patrick Mahomes (#10), Deshaun Watson (#12) 2018: Baker Mayfield (#1), Sam Darnold (#3), Josh Allen (#7), Josh Rosen (#10), Lamar Jackson (#32) These are unquestionable top NFL QBs. These are decent starters but definitely not unquestionably top NFL QBs. These are promising but still unproven QBs. I think 2 things skew our perspective of younger QBs. First is that the jury is still out on most of the young QBs taken in the last 3 years, including Goff and Wentz who have looked really good but not great, although Wentz's performance the last month of the 2019 season may have put him into the "top NFL QB" level. The second reason that it appears that QBs are not failing as much as previously is that there has been some outstanding QBs coming from after the first round. In 2011, Andy Dalton came from the second round while in 2012 there was Russell Wilson in the third and Kirk Cousins in the fourth. Certainly Derek Carr and Jimmy Garoppolo from the 2014 second round have had better careers than any of the 2014 first rounders. Jacoby Brisett came from the third round of 2016, and Dak Prescott from the fourth round of the same draft. Prior to 2011, you could count on the fingers of one hand the number of good/great QBs drafted after the first round since 2000 and have two unused digits: Tom Brady (2000), Drew Brees (2001), and Matt Schaub (2004).

There is no such thing as "sustainability" in the NFL. Roster turn over is a fact of life whether teams are consistently competing in the playoffs or consistently missing them. Plain and simple, the modern NFL is dominated by teams that figure out how to manage the salary cap, and those are the teams that win consistently, make conference championships, and win Super Bowls. Only the Buccaneers among Super Bowl winners in the last 20 years have failed to be a consistent winner. They have not made the playoffs since 2008. Only the Falcons have been a consistent winner that has only made the Super Bowl once in the last year, and only the Vikings have been a consistent winner that has failed to make the Super Bowl in the last 20 years. In the 20 years since 2000, these are the Super Bowl winners: New England Patriots - 20 winnings seasons - 18 playoff seasons - 13 conference championship appearances - 9 SB appearances - 6 SBs Indianapolis Colts - 15 winning seasons - 15 playoff seasons - 4 conference championship appearances - 2 SB appearances - 1 SB Green Bay Packers - 15 winning seasons - 14 playoff seasons - 5 conference championship appearances - 1 SB appearance - 1 SB Seattle Seahawks - 15 winning seasons - 13 playoff seasons - 3 conference championship appearances - 3 SB appearances - 1 SB Philadelphia Eagles - 14 winning seasons - 13 playoff seasons - 6 conference championship appearances - 2 SB appearances - 1 SB Pittsburgh Steelers - 15 winning seasons - 12 playoff seasons - 5 conference championship appearances - 3 SB appearances - 2 SBs Baltimore Ravens - 14 winning seasons - 12 playoff seasons - 4 conference championship appearances - 2 SB appearances - 2 SBs Denver Broncos - 12 winning seasons - 9 playoff seasons - 3 conference championship appearances - 2 SB appearances - 1 SB Kansas City Chiefs - 11 winning seasons - 9 playoff seasons - 2 conference championship appearances -1 SB appearance - 1 SB New Orleans Saints - 10 winning seasons - 9 playoff seasons - 3 conference championship appearances - 1 SB appearance -1 SB New York Giants - 10 winning seasons - 8 playoff seasons - 3 conference championship appearances - 3 SB appearances -2 SBs Tampa Bay Buccaneers - 6 winning seasons -5 playoff seasons - 1 conference championship appearances - 1 SB appearance -1 SB If the Bills don't strive to win the Super Bowl, they certainly aren't likely to become "consistent winners".

Seriously, does any Chiefs fan lament that they paid Sammy Watkins $16 million and he's their WR3? One trade for one player doesn't make it a policy -- me

Certainly better than anybody the Bills would pick up with the 22nd pick. Exactly right about paying people. White is the only one that will be due big $$$ soon. Dawkins and Milano are in need of new deals but not due big pay days. They're decent players, but not enough above average to warrant paying them more than the average starter money at their positions. If somebody wanted to offer one or both big $$$ then maybe the Bills should let them leave rather than pass on the opportunity to bring in a WR like Golliday simply to keep both, and if it came down to picking one of them, I'd sure keep Dawkins rather than Milano simply because starting OTs, even average ones, are harder to come by than starting LBs. Poyer is due a decent pay day but it shouldn't break the bank. Allen and Edmunds have 3 more years on their rookie deals, and they both have lots of room to improve before they start thinking big $$$. More importantly, the Bills absolutely need to determine what they have in Josh Allen ASAP because the salaries for top QBs are over $30 million now and racing upward. For decent starters, it's $15-$20 million. For quality veteran backups it's $5-$10. All QBs need protection and targets, and young QBs especially are helped by having a strong running game. The Bills OL is adequate but could be better. Once Allen gets past Beasley, Brown, and Singletary, though, he doesn't have good enough receivers or runners to help him. Are Allen's mediocre passing numbers primarily because of his own shortcomings or primarily because too often the lack of first rate offensive talent limits what kind of plays the Bills can run and how much success any QB would have? Maybe Dawson Knox can develop into a good pass catching TE, but adding a WR of Golliday's caliber would enable the Bills to get a much clearer picture of Allen's worth. What I know the Bills can't afford is to pay Allen $30+ million a year when his performance doesn't justify that kind of money because they're still waiting for him to "get it" because he still doesn't have good protection, good targets, and a good running game. Surrounding Allen with plenty of talent eliminates the excuses that we've heard for Allen's play for two seasons now (and which, in many cases, were very valid). So, if the Bills could swing a trade for Golliday, especially if they agreed to a new deal in advance, I'd be a happy camper.

Not necessarily. As I've said before, lots of kids who play OT in college end up playing OG in the pros. If Ford is a better pro OG than he is a pro OT -- and physically that seems likely to be the case -- then he should be playing OG and they need to find somebody else to play RT. It's the old trying to fit a square peg into a round hole thing.

Actually, the Bills need more elite playmakers AND they need better subs at the skills positions on the offensive side. The Bills have a decent QB, 2 decent WRs, and 1 decent RB. They have a promising rookie TE. Duke Johnson should not be the WR3. Frank Gore and TJ Yeldon need to be gone next season. The Bills need to be active in FA to bring in better offensive skills players for 2020 -- as well as upgrading the OL. And a big absolute 'NO!' to Funchess. He's not as good as Johnson.

I agree. I think OL needs an upgrade immediately, only slightly behind WR and RB. They might find a proverbial "diamond in the rough" for the OL in the draft but it might take him 2 or 3 years to become a good NFL starter. The Bills need better protection for Allen in 2020.

Horses, like dogs, have long been domesticated -- more than 5000 years -- and hawks have been used for hunting for more than 3000 years. Taima the Seahawk is an Augur hawk and was hatched at the World Bird Sanctuary in St Louis MO. His handler has 30 years experience as a falconer. He has a business that uses birds of prey to control bird, rodent, and rabbit populations in the western states. The raven mascot for the Ravens come from the Maryland Zoo. They are African ravens that are more amenable to handling than the common ravens that are indigenous to western Maryland. At one time I think that the Bengals had a live tiger mascot but that was quite a while ago.

Since Ford seems to be a better fit physically as an NFL guard than as a RT, I'd prefer the Bills move him to RG and add another RT. It's pretty common for collegiate OTs to be moved to OG in the pros because the NFL game is much more specialized. A great/good OG is much more effective than a mediocre OT.

I think that it depends upon what happens in FA and in the draft. They need another solid veteran WR next year, so going after one in FA makes sense. Since this is a deep WR draft, there should be very good prospects available in Round 2 although they might be a season or a season and a half to develop. It's also possible that the WR that the Bills really like is gone by #22. I don't want to see them trade up to take a WR because they are going to have to start to pay some of their own homegrown players if they are serious about becoming an NFL power, so they need to replenish their roster with youngsters on rookie contracts. Having one good RB isn't enough for a playoff contending team. The Bills offense suffered in 2019, especially later in the year, because neither Gore nor Yeldon were good enough. Except for a great OL, a good/great running game is a QB's best friend. If Swift is a better prospect at RB than any of the available WRs are prospects at WR, then they should go with Swift. Don't sacrifice playmaking talent for need, especially in the first round. The Bills need playmakers on both sides of the ball.

I think I misstated the segment's premise. I think it was actually about the fan bases that were most deserving of a Super Bowl. During it, they listed the teams that had never been to the Super Bowl and those that had never won the Super Bowl but I don't think that they were only limiting it to teams that hadn't won the Lombardi.

He picked the Lions. Kyle Brandt picked the Vikings -- he called them "they were the Bills before the Bills" in regards to having lost 4 Super Bowls in 7 years. Pete Schrager picked the Jets.

For those of you who missed it, the Bills got a double shot of love on GMFB this morn ing. In a segment on teams that hadn't won a Super Bowl and which fan bases were most deserving of a Lombardi, Kay Adams went with the Bills and Bills Mafia. The other teams were the Vikings, Lions, and Jets. The GMFB crew also voted on their "Angry Run of the Year" from their weekly Angry Runs segment. Dawson Knox won for his Week 3 catch, winning over Mark Ingram, George Kittle, and Shy Tuttle.

At least the Bears took a QB in the first round. The Bills needed a QB but they passed on Mahomes to take Nathan Peterman.

IIRC, there was a near mutiny among the Bills vets due to Bullough's methods, but I don't remember the details.

My least favorite Bill of all time is Russ Brandon. I'll excuse Wilson for hiring him because Wilson was an old guy who couldn't adapt to modern NFL, and probably believed that Brandon's bill of goods was viable. Since Brandon also convinced the much younger and competent Terry Pegula to not only keep him on but promote him, speaks to exactly how persuasive Brandon was. Until he was fired for lying to the Pegulas about his sexual harassing of a Sabres employee, he gave Bills fans 12+ years of misery -- and his influence may still permeate the Bills organization. Brandon controlled the Bills from 2006 through 2018. During the 12 full years that Brandon "reigned", the Bills had 2 winning seasons -- 2014 and 2017. They made the playoffs once in 2017. They won 83 games over 12 seasons -- an average of less than 7 games a season. Brandon hired my most hated Bills HC of all time, Dick Jauron. Brandon blatantly manipulated the fan base with big $$$ FA signings that masked the reality that the teams he and his minions were filled with bottom feeder players. Bringing in Terrell Owens in 2009 was the most egregious example. I think the Bills sold 55k+ season tickets because of that signing. My biggest concern about Beane as the Bills GM is that since he was hired when Brandon controlled the Bills that he shares Brandon's "money ball" philosophy. Hopefully, winning football games rather than making more profits means more to Pegula and Beane than it did to Wilson and Brandon.

This. I think that what Beane does this off season will tell us whether the Bills are building a Super Bowl contender or one just "good enough" to make the playoffs more often than once every two decades.

I disagree. McDermott and Beane -- and Beane's predecessors, Brandon and Whaley -- gutted the team of offensive talent between 2017 and 2019. They got rid of starting caliber players -- Robert Woods, Marquise Goodwin, Sammy Watkins, Richie Incognito, Cordy Glenn, and LeSean McCoy -- and replaced them with JAGs and non-NFL caliber players. That's not "focusing" on the offense, it's simply swapping out good players with cheaper ones to save $$$. The Bills drafted Allen and then literally threw him to the wolves without a competent QB coach, an NFL caliber OL and receiving corps. Again, that's not "focusing" on the offense; it's simply placating the fan base by giving them false hope in the person of one player. McDermott and Beane only started to address the mess they'd created on offense in 2019 with the addition of some OLers and receivers, but in a modest way. The 2019 OL, WRs, and RBs were not nearly as good as those units that McDermott inherited when he became HC. At the very least, the Bills need at least 2 more starting quality receivers, another quality RB, and additional upgrading of the OL for 2020. That's a major investment, and it's necessary because of previous failure to really focus on the offense. Fans who think that the Bills offense is "good enough" are deluding themselves.

I'm much more optimistic about Allen's chances of becoming an elite QB than I was before 2019. If he can again make significant strides in the off season and throughout next season, he'll be an excellent QB. This past season, there were limits to what the Bills could do on offense because they didn't have enough good weapons on offense, and that may have held Allen back. One of the keys to Mahomes' success has been the quality of the weapons available to him -- and how many he has. On another team, Mahomes would still shine, but probably not nearly as brightly. I want to see the Bills give Allen the opportunity to shine as brightly as he can by giving him more and better targets supported by a running game that's more than Singletary and a has been and a never was ... an upgrade on the OL wouldn't hurt, either. If the Bills don't support Allen well enough next year to let him demonstrate just how much ability he really has, how can they honestly evaluate him, good or bad, when it's time to move beyond his rookie contract? They need to figure out if they have a $10-15 million QB or a $30-35 million QB, and next season would be the best year to do it.

If this draft is as deep in WRs as the draftniks claim, then this is the way to go. A vet like Green would give Allen an instant target and give time for the rookies to develop. IMO, a history of concussions or chronic knee issues would be bigger detriments to signing a player than having an ankle injury.

That "nonsense" is going to be around until Mahomes retires unless Josh Allen becomes an elite QB himself. Deal with it.

I don't think I could vote for Rivers myself, but I think he may eventually make the HOF. He certainly isn't a first ballot guy. Many fans forget how talented those Chargers teams were early on in Rivers' career. They had monster defenses led by Junior Seau and Shawn Merriman and prolific offenses. They would win 12, 13, 14 games in the regular season but fizzle in the playoffs. Later in Rivers' career, the Chargers weren't nearly as talented but it seemed whenever they put together a playoff contender, Rivers' poor play left them either outside looking in or one and done. In his career, Rivers has only led his team to 2 playoff wins. Rivers is the anti-Eli. A lot of critics diss Eli in HOF discussions because his stats aren't outstanding compared to other QBs of his generation, but Eli helped his team win games more often than he caused them to lose them even when those Giants teams weren't all that talented. When he had some good talent, though, Eli came through. The name of the game in the NFL is winning, and when Eli had the opportunity, he took his team to two Super Bowl wins. In fact, Eli has as many Super Bowl wins as Rivers has playoff wins.

Rivers has always thrown too many picks at inopportune times in games. He is what he's always been, a very unclutch QB who plays small in big games going back to early in his career when the Chargers were loaded with talent.

In 2018, the Bills QB coach was David Culley who's experience coaching QBs consisted of 1 year at a small college program back in the 1980s. He had other coaching experience but wasn't specifically a QB coach. Since position coaches are charged with teaching/improving players' techniques, and Allen certainly needed help with his passing mechanics, the Bills should have brought in an experienced position coach for QBs, even if that meant reorganizing the offensive coaching staff. With an adequate QB coach, Ken Dorsey, Allen made spectacular progress in 2019. I think that he could have made even more progress if he'd had better coaching in his rookie season.