SoTier

The 2017 draft was on McDermott because by then Whaley was out of the picture (he was fired the day after the draft). My suspicion -- I have no evidence -- is that Whaley and McDermott clashed over the first round pick -- Whaley wanting either Mahomes or Watson and McDermott wanting White -- and obviously McDermott won. Maybe it works out with Allen but most first round QBs don't become elite or even excellent NFL QBs and about half of them bust, so the missed opportunity to take Mahomes or Watson is likely to be another woulda/shoulda/coulda in Bills history. When you have the opportunity to grab a great prospect, you can't afford to pass unless you already have your franchise QB on your roster.

I think that their big error was the two firsts and a fourth for Ramsey. No DB is worth that because DBs aren't game changers and every year great DBs come out of the draft which isn't the case with great QBs or great pass rushers, who are. It's why I think passing on the opportunity to draft a top QB prospect in 2017 to take a DB was a major mistake that will haunt the Bills going forward.

I agree with this but their biggest needs -- OL and RB -- can be successfully filled through the draft outside the first round. They might not get a Quenton Nelson or Saquan Barkley but they could very well find a Cordy Glenn or Alvin Kamara. I don't know what Doug Whaley is doing now, but the Rams also might consider hiring him as a consultant to help evaluate mid/low priced FA veterans.

Nothing helps any QB -- great/good/mediocre/bad -- play up to the best of his ability than playing behind a good/great OL and sharing the backfield with a stud RB.

Goff looks like a decent QB but not a great one which means that he's dependent upon having good/great support around him, including coaching. I think he's probably on the level of Matt Hasselbeck, Jake Plummer, Carson Palmer, Eli Manning, Matt Schaub, Alex Smith, Joe Flacco, Derek Carr etc. The Rams could do a lot worse than Goff. They could do better ... but Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers or Russell Wilson don't come along too often.

I voted for mercy. Not all starters can be replaced one for one with backups, especially if a starter or two has been injured in the game already. Moreover, many good teams have non-starters who are crucial pieces in certain situations on both offense and defense such as nickel backs on defense or the fourth WR on teams that use a lot of 4 and 5 WR sets.

Other teams have also "stopped Brady" and still lost games. The only team that's truly "stopped Brady" in 2 decades has been the Giants under Coughlin in two Super Bowls.

It's also no secret on how to stop the Patriots. Basically it's make Brady uncomfortable in the pocket. Unfortunately, it's been easier said than done for almost 20 years.

At one time the forward pass was a "gimmick" as well, dude.

Apparently not.

The Jests kicker against the Bills also missed some kicks. Moreover, the Titans still had Mariotta under center rather than Tannehill, who seems to have turned the Titans into offensive juggernauts compared to what they were under Mariota. More importantly is that the Bills have not lost many of their key players to long term or season-ending injuries like so many other teams have had.

This. Essentially, the Bills win over Denver and the Raiders loss to the Jests and the NFL's scheduling of divisional games late in the season to tighten up divisional races means that the Bills would likely have lose out to put themselves out of the playoffs.

Take your own advice and learn from history. Russ Brandon rose to the top in the Bills organization because his views reflected those of the owner, Ralph Wilson. Since Pegula not only kept Brandon on but promoted him to run both the Bills and Sabres, it's reasonable to believe that Pegula was good with Brandon's philosophy on running the team. Since both McDermott and Beane were hired when Brandon was in charge, there's no reason to think that they don't share Brandon's philosophy about paying players -- especially DBs -- until they prove otherwise. White will be their first test since none of the other players in the 2017 draft class will command top dollar for their positions

I'll believe that the Bills value Tre White enough to pay him the going rate for a top DB when they actually pay him. They've never paid one of the great/good DBs they've developed market value in two decades, most notably when they let Antoine Winfield walk away about fifteen years ago and most recently when they let All Pro Stephon Gilmore walk. What they do about White will tell us whether the Beane/McDermott regime is truly different from their predecessors or if it's the same old/same old.

Why would they pay Dawkins "at first level"? He's not that good.

That's because you're white and the color of your skin has never been a defining aspect of your life because you have always been in the majority -- unless you're some sick racist asshat who hates anybody and everybody who doesn't look like you -- which I don't think you are based on your postings on TSW. Many times we whites think some blacks are overly sensitive and "want to make everything about race" but we aren't reminded almost daily that we are white so we take race for granted. Although racism isn't usually as blatant as it was a few decades ago, it's unfortunately alive and well in some places because old ideas and old habits die hard. Contrary to your claim that these lists "perpetuate segregation", they actually provide hope and inspiration for black people who may be struggling just to make it day to day as well as a reminder to whites of blacks' historical and current achievements despite racist stereotypes that exist. It's no different from women celebrating the historic and current achievements of other women, although doing that makes a certain segment of the male population uncomfortable, too.

These are the same old excuses that have been floated over the last two decades whenever the Bills have allowed their best players to leave in FA (Antoine Winfiled, Pat Williams, London Fletcher, Stephon Gilmore, Robert Woods) or have traded them away (Jason Peters, Marshawn Lynch, Sammy Watkins, Cordy Glenn) when they have absolutely nobody on the roster who was even close to being an adequate much less an equal or better replacement. A few of these players were replaced in the next draft with high draft picks but in several instances they were replaced by guys who should have never made a regular season NFL roster much less be starters. So far in the McDermott/Beane regime, I see too much emphasis on cutting current salary without regard to cap or talent implications and passing on opportunities to add very talented players, especially WRs, for a variety of reasons, which might be very valid. However, passing on grabbing Josh Gordon off waivers when the need for a third WR is so dire and the cost so relatively little, says that they aren't serious about putting enough good talent around Allen to give him the best chance to succeed. Gordon's checkered past didn't deter Pete Carroll who recognized that his Seahawks, even with MVP candidate Russell Wilson at QB, needed another WR to pair with Tyler Lockett.

I was an "early ditcher" of the landline, about 10 years ago. I got tired of paying to give telephone solicitors and political robocallers easy access to annoy me.

Yeah ... teams with decent QBs have made the Super Bowl so many times in the last two decades that passing on 3 great talents in 2 successive drafts is no big deal. Of course not. Who needs a great QB when you can have mediocrity. After all, QBs who've been great early in their careers always taper off eventually but QBs that take two or three years to reach average are destined for greatness. //sarcasm off

Great post! The hallmark of the successful NFL coaches over the last twenty years has been their ability to adapt to the talent available to them -- what they inherited, what they can obtain, and what they develop. The salary cap and the CBA make it impossible to spend years building a roster that perfectly fits the HC's "vsion" even if that "vision" is even viable in the current NFL. ********************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************** If wrapping yourself in up in the security blanket labeled "the league will figure Jackson out and he'll fail" makes you feel better, go for it, dudes. However, keep in mind that although NFL defenses long ago figured out how to stop both classic pocket QBs and mobile QBs, the best ones still regularly light up the league and win championships. DCs have known how to stop Tom Brady for 15 years or so, but they haven't been able to do it very frequently. If Jackson can continue to improve as a passer, there's no reason to think he can't continue to be successful although it's likely that his game may morph into a more traditional style much like Russell Wilson's game has and Patrick Mahomes' game seems to be trending that way, too. The athletic QBs that Jackson is frequently compared to -- Vick, Griffin, Kaepernick -- simply were never as good as passers as Jackson is now. Like Mahomes and Watson, he's made tremendous strides between last season and this season, and has gotten better as the season has progressed. I disagree that the Bills have a plan for Allen to succeed. They didn't even bother to hire a competent QB coach for him his rookie season FCOL. He still doesn't have a sure handed #1 WR, a above average pass blocking OL or a consistent and dependable running game. McDermott and Beane chose to dismantle the team they inherited despite making the playoffs in 2017. The only player the Bills lost due to injury was Wood. All the other teams that they sent packing was their choice. As for "cap hell", almost all of it was the result of McDermott/Beane's blind commitment to shedding players without taking into consideration the cap implications. The reality is that the 2019 Bills have less overall talent than the 2016 team that they inherited. They have essentially replaced decent/good/great veterans with non-NFL caliber/JAG/decent players. Their drafts have been uninspiring, primarily because they have continually traded up to gamble on projects in the first two or three rounds while passing on better prospects they could have taken if they stayed put. They have failed to support Josh Allen with good coaching and top quality offensive talent, which compromises the ability to evaluate Allen's progress as a passer, especially the lack of a WR1. Make all the excuses you want for McDermott and Beane, but three years into their tenure, the team is not significantly better than it was in 2017. Their 7-3 record is largely a product of a schedule that has top loaded their schedule with bottom feeder teams which comes to an end on Thanksgiving Day.

I think they targeted Jackson and correctly gauged the rest of the NFL's evaluation of him. They executed a series of trades with the Bills, Titans, and Eagles to obtain 2 first round picks in 2018, #25 and #32 when they originally had the #16 pick. - Traded the No. 16 pick and a fifth-round pick (No. 154) to Bills for the No. 22 pick (obtained from Chiefs) and a third-round pick (No. 65, obtained from Browns). - Traded the No. 22 pick (obtained from Chiefs) and a sixth-round pick (No. 215) to Titans for the No. 25 pick and a fourth-round pick (No. 125). - Traded a second-round pick (No. 52), fourth-round pick (No. 125, obtained from Titans) and a 2019 second-round pick to Eagles for the No. 32 pick ( and a fourth-round pick (No. 132). They used the #25 pick on TE Hayden Hurst and #32 pick on Lamar Jackson. They also drafted starting OT Orlando Brown with their third rounder (#83) and C Bradley Bozeman in the 6th round (#215) which they got back from the Titans in another trade of picks. They also added another TE with one of their 4th rounders which suggests they were planning on retooling their offense from the get-go.. In 2019, they brought in Greg Roman.

Ozzie Newsome and John Harbaugh weren't.

I would hope so.

Laremy Tunsil says "hi". It's much harder to develop OLers when they don't have the skill set to play OT in the NFL, which is why many college OTs become OGs in the pros. Both Dawkins and Ford were projected to be guards in the pros which means they were lacking significant skills that pro OTs need. It's likely why both have struggled.

I think Ford, like Dawkins, was projected to be a guard in the pros which suggests that he's likely to be a JAG OT but a better OG.