TigerJ

I don't think Clay is particularly at risk, but his knee issues are pretty well documented. He doesn't practice a lot during the season, trying to save the wear and tear on his knees. That's been true at least a couple of seasons now.

Shaq Lawson is not especially twitchy, but he's not a bad DE. Right now, the Bills have Cap Capi, Ryan Davis, Jerry Hughes, Shaq Lawson, Trent Murphy and Owa Odighizua listed as DEs, and Lorax has been quoted as suggesting he might be more of a pass rusher this coming season. Eddie Yarborough is a restricted free agent. I think he may have been tendered, but I'm not sure. I suspect the Bills hope he'll sign a tender in any case. That's more defensive ends than the Bills will keep in September. Obviously, somebody's getting cut. I don't know that Lawson is especially safe, but I also don't think that the Bills are targeting him for elimination. What I think is that the Bills want to see plenty of competition, so in training camp all these guys need to work their tails off.

This. I've seen every one of the top four QBs projected as the top QB taken over the last few weeks. When we get to the end of April, someone will turn our to be right. others will prove to be wrong. But the one(s) who turn out to be right won't be smarter than everybody else. They will just have been a little luckier in their guessing.

If Allen is their guy, it would be great to get him at #12. Bucky, however fell into the trap of thinking the Bills are automatically going to draft a center in the first round since Eric Wood had to retire. Every indication from the Bills is that they think Ryan Groy can and will step in and do just fine. The Bills can use a talent upgrade on the offensive line, but linebacker is easily a more critical need, and Rashaan Evans is still on the board.

Jerrell Freeman? Has to serve 2 more games of a 10 game suspension, but otherwise matches what McDermott would typically look for in a linebacker.

Similar to Preston Brown, but somewhat faster in the 40. You don't want him to start, but if you can get him to backup for less than Brown, do it.

I'm open to being impressed. As of now, his body of work in the NFL is not much to go on, but we'll see. The contract he signed is essentially for good backup money. That means the Bills are planning for a rookie to come in and start pretty quickly. The contract is only for two years. That may be because McCarron's agent didn't want him to be locked in long term for backup pay. If he's great and the rookie they draft is lousy, they can negotiate an extension. If he's not great, there are no long term cap problems. Good for Buffalo, OK for McCarron.

The Bills have to be as prepared as they can be for any possible scenario if they have visions of trading up for a top QB. The question we can answer is, are they locked into a particular one of the top three or four, or do they think any one of two, three or four would be acceptable. If it is the former, they have reason to be pretty nervous.

Yeah, I saw that. If the OP had read more closely, Walter's mock draft explained it as a hypothetical.

Miami will be on the hook for a good amount of money due to Tannehill over the next few years. However, a rookie QB, even a high first rounder, costs peanuts against the cap. I'm not sure what the Dolphins are thinking, but there is no question that they can afford a high priced Tannehill and a top four QB in the draft, even if Tannehill ends up being a backup.

I think he'll play DE in McDermott's defense.

I guess this goes to show you, you take what you hear in a bar with a grain of salt, a very large grain of salt. LOL

As has been said, Julian Stanford is a much traveled journeyman in the NFL having come from a small college. He's undersized for a linebacker, but that doesn't seem to matter a whole lot to McDermott. He has been a special teams captain, which suggests he's been a standout there. the other thing that is noteworthy is his athleticism. At his pro day he ran a 4.51 40 and had a 6.59 3 cone drill. He also has a 42 inch vertical to his credit, and though undersized benched 27 reps. It is likely that athleticism was a major drawing card for Beane. He probably figures he got at least a great special teamer and that Stanford may have some untapped upside as an outside linebacker.

Murphy sounds like a good signing and he's getting paid starter money, if not elite starter money. The only negative is his PED suspension. If he has concluded that juicing up is not the way to go, there's no reason he can't be very productive for the Bills.

Having to depend on three QBs with a total of 1 year experience between them is never a healthy situation for a team.

It's really a question of how much of a chance the GM and coach want to take. Not having a veteran QB in the fold who has actually played a reasonable number of meaningful regular season snaps is taking a huge risk that Peterman or a highly drafted rookie can actually win games and look OK doing it. Since they will have never done it at the pro level, you can't really know that they can. If that's all you have come September, and they don't look good, you know the fan base is going to crucify McBeane. If the fan base is sufficiently upset, the owner is going to notice, and he won't like it. If the owner is upset, the leash around the neck of the GM and head coach gets much shorter and tighter, and eventually heads will roll. I don't suspect that's something Beane and McDermott really want to happen.

I think there are options that remain. So far, I think McCarron remains on the market and Derek Anderson. McCarron is interesting. He's looking for a starting gig, I'm sure, and really doesn't want to be thought of as a bridge QB. Or at least if I were him, that's not what I would be looking for. However, if the buyers have all dried up where he would be a long term starter, he might accept a situation where he knew he'd be starting in 2018 and had a chance to start in 2019 or be traded to a team where he would be a possible starter. You'd have to pay him like a low level starter at least, maybe 10 or 12 million a year, plus incentives. That gives him a chance to prove his worth and get a bigger deal next time around.

Agreed.

Great move. The Bills have plenty of holes, so the more they can fill in free agency or avoid creating by re-signing one of their own, the less pressure to fill them all in the draft. If, as it appears, they're interested in moving up to a top three spot in the draft, it's going to take a couple more draft picks at least, including #22. The more solid veterans that can be plugged in, the less critical it will be to hold on to all the draft picks.

Josh Allen has work to do before he's ready to start. The question is, if Sam Bradford were to sign with Buffalo, how long is the deal for, and are there any escape routes in the deal should Allen progress faster than expected. The Bills would not want to be loaded down with a boatload of dead cap obligations should they want to trade Bradford in a year or two.

I think Logan Thomas has all kinds of potential. He's got to do some things to play to it, but he also needs the opportunity. That means the coaches need to make a decision to spread the opportunities around, and then the QB whoever it is, has to be able to deliver the ball, and not just lock on to his favorite security blanket.

Nobody knows him better than Beane and McDermott. If they signed him for 5 years, they must believe he has plenty left in the tank.

Cordy Glenn is a good left tackle, but his injuries over the last two years have cost the Bills virtually a full season's worth of his on field presence. His contract makes his absence from injury hard to take, and the solid play the Bills got from Dawkins make Glenn expendable. By trading him the Bills clear a fair amount of cap room. It's a cut throat business, but Glenn is going to be fine in Cinci. I would have been fine with Glenn staying, but I understand the decision, especially in view of the need of the Bills to find a franchise QB.

There are fans who feel that part of being a fan is making judgments about what the team should do, and there are fans, like me, who watch with interest but in the end recognize I don't have the knowledge or the authority to function as the GM. Since I don't, I never get locked into having to have this player or that one. At the end of the day, I know that the GM will be held accountable for results. If Beane drafts a particular QB, and he busts, it probably means Beane's job at some point. It is the way of the league, and I'm OK with that.

Running back?