TigerJ

He'll be 26 this spring. Not too old to carve out a career in the league if he keeps his head screwed on straight.

He's a Southwest Airlines pilot, so he's doing just fine. I'm a retired church pastor. I don't live on a lake.

No point in complaining. It is a rotation after all. The thing is, it's all based on team strength in 2018. 2019 is a different year. The strength of some teams will carry over from one year to the next, but some teams that were excellent in 2018 will stink in 2019, and a few go the other way too. Lists like this vary by only a few percentage points or less from one team to the next, so the actual schedule may turn out to be a fair amount tougher than last season's results suggest.

Yeah, USA Today did right by the Bills. The only player about whom I have some misgivings is Emmanuel Hall. He's got speed to burn, but has a reputation for some drops. But hey, it the 4th round you've got to take some chances.

Obviously, Buffalo's current circumstances, cap wise, are due to past decisions, including many failures. Most of those are pre-McBeane. Given the present circumstances, it is up to Bean and McDermott to take advantage and leverage the benefits of all that cap space to set up the team for long term success.

My sister in law and her family live just north of Charlotte on Lake Norman. Thanks anyway.

The Patriots don't just talk sh**, they live it, on the sidelines no less.

Only Jason Croom is under contract for the Bills at TE. Clay is gone, of course. Logan Thomas is a restricted free agent. Given his difficulty blocking and his meager catch total, it's hard to imagine Buffalo giving him a tender offer. That means it's likely that even if Buffalo drafts a TE, they will be looking in free agency. I think the Bills might take a look at Austin Sefarian-Jenkins. The cost will determine their level of interest. Physically, he's very similar to Logan Thomas. He's much more accomplished as a tight end though. If Sefarian-Jenkins is looking for a big payday, he's not going to get it from Buffalo, but if he's willing to sign a more modest kind of prove it deal, I could see it happening.

Beane likes maturity, but the Edmunds pick shows he's willing to take a young player if everything else checks out and his upside is high enough. Generally speaking, it looks to me as if Beane is more careful than some GMs to avoid players who have baggage that could become a distraction for the team. That doesn't necessarily mean he'll only pick goody two shoes players, but if they have a past, they need to have moved beyond it and there is no risk of it becoming a pattern in the future. The other common thread is that all Beane picks seem to be passionate about playing the game of football. They have no problem with putting in the extra time, be it work with personal coaches on mechanics, film study, or whatever.

"Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." Reinhold Neibuhr

It could be a little more certain than it is, but I like it a lot. When the Bills decide Derek Anderson has outlived his usefulness as a mentor, they can look for a developmental prospect to stash on their PS, and free up a roster spot for another position, but at least things are stable and looking up. That's a lot compared with the last couple of decades.

I've seen a good number of mocks that have him going at least in the top 10. I would not be at all shocked by a top five result on draft day.

He's got nice measurables, running a sub 4.4 40 at 6'2," but he just turned 30 and has kicked around the NFL for 5 years never creating much of a stir. At this point, he'd be competing as a camp body.

My post was not in any way shape or form a prediction of failure for the players I listed as examples. You're right about the possibility of any of those prospects turning into stars in the NFL, but the negatives create more uncertainty. The odds that all of them become stars in the NFL not great. That presents a GM picking at #9 with a dilemma. Which ones are going to be stars, and which ones will bust? For the record, I am not at all against the idea of picking Metcalf, limited route tree and all. His college experience may mean it'll be a while before he can maximize his enormous physical potential, but there will be ways for him to have an impact as a rookie. I happen to be a little more wary of Ed Oliver because he not only played lighter than Aaron Donald, but scouts are concerned he doesn't have the strength Donald had coming out of Pittsburgh (Pitt Panthers). What he does have is terrific explosion coming off the snap. He could still turn out to be an amazing defensive tackle in the NFL, but the questions are not going to go away before the draft.

The real problem with #9 overall in this draft is BPA might be a matter of drawing straws between 4 or 5 players. Will too light Ed Oliver be the BPA or short armed Jonah Williams, or limited route tree Hercules DK Metcalf? I think a trade down is the ideal action for Buffalo when they are on the clock, as long as potential trade partners aren't thinking the same thing.

How about a prediction: The Browns and Ravens will compete for the AFC North championship.

They only hired a couple scouts after deciding that the Sporting News annual Draft Guide just wasn't getting it done for them.

It doesn't seem to be a Brandon Beane style trade. The risk is fairly high that OBJ's production with a second year QB in a run first offense will not justify the very high cost (trade cost + contract) of a WR like OBJ.

Do the stats for designed runs in the OP include QB sneaks in third and short or fourth and short situations? if so, I think that YPC stat is perfectly acceptable. I'm really not in favor of Daboll including a lot of designed runs in the offense. Besides short yardage QB sneak plays, (which Josh Allen is good at) I wouldn't want to see more than one or two per game, but I can see using a designed QB run when nothing else is working. I also think if the Bills are able to build a better offensive line this season, something I think we all agree is desperately needed, the need for designed QB runs will probably go down, even as their effectiveness would probably go up.

Animosity toward Tom Brady is certainly a plus, but I don't think it's really enough to justify signing Marshall. If anything, at linebacker I would think Buffalo would be looking for a clear strong side linebacker to replace Zo when he hangs it up after the 2019 season, and they would be looking for a younger guy - in not a draft pick, then someone in the 25-27 age range.

He's a good guy who never played up to his contract, for whatever reason. What it boils down to is that Whaley didn't seem to have a good grasp of where to spend the money.

I think that it's pretty obvious that part of Allen's growth process needs to be in his reading of defenses. He's smart, but I don't think he was well developed in that area coming out of college. When reading defenses becomes second nature for him, he will spread the ball around more. He can throw the long ball, and his willingness to do so, coupled with receivers who can take the lid off a defense, will create more openings for underneath completions. He can't ignore those because if he does opposing teams will be able to commit more resources to stopping the deep completions. I'm optimistic that Allen will continue to develop.

The fact that there was no signing bonus makes this an outstanding signing by Buffalo. There were reasons why Long struggled at center for the Jets. I wouldn't write him off because he couldn't execute a shotgun snap with a torn ligament in his finger. Bring him in. Let him compete. If he can't, you tell him goodbye, and there is zero cap issue.

Yes, but which one is the real McCoy?

Depends. Are the Bills confident Harrison Phillips can step into the starting role at 3 tech, with Star Lotulelei and Jordan Phillips as their nose tackles? Then bringing in a backup makes sense. If the Bills aren't sure about Harrison's starting potential, I would think they'd want to focus on finding a solid starter for the spot. They won't need more backups.