BuffaloBillyG

It's the philosophy of the two teams that made the difference. At the beginning of the year at WR we all debated is Buffalo or KC had the worse WR group. By the end of the you KC had 3 former 1,000 yard WRs, to combine with perhaps the best TE in history, and a RB room of Pacheco/Hunt. We had injuries to the secondary? Next man up. Status quo. A rookie that misses TC and a bust in Elam? Oh well, we roll with what we have. KC? An injury to their best WR and top RB? Let's bring in Kareem Hunt. Let's bring back JuJu. Ok. He can't do it. Let's increase Worthy's role gradually so he's a difference maker come playoffs. Hm. We need more....let's move for DHop. Oh look, we treaded water enough with these moves so Hollywood Brown is back. Keep taking bites of the apple until we get something that works. Just like the draft last year. Chiefs: We need a WR. This is the guy we want that we feel makes us better. Let's be aggressive and go get him. Bills: We need a WR. We will just take what's left so we can pick up an extra day 3 pick. Passive vs aggressive styles

I'd be interested to see more of a breakdown on WHEN teams played shell against us. It seemed early in the season when we had MVS is when we saw it more. After switching from him to Cooper teams seemed to cut back. I'd also be interested to see what the split was between YPC/YAC for Shakir pre and post Cooper trade. I'll have to research that a bit Point being, after the Bills got rid of their only real deep threat, yes teams could back out of the shell because no one fears Allen hitting on a deep ball even when he gets the look he needs. It's one thing I really hope he works on this off season for sure because as you point out they sure seem to like to try for the chunk play when they can.

He has more games missed than sacks over the last 3 years. I really hope we steer clear. FWIW, If he's let go I think the Cowboys push hard for him. I remember the year he was drafted Jerry Jones LOVED the dude. The rumor I remember is that he was set to pick him and even tried moving up but the Rams and Eagles at 1&2 wouldn't budge (they both needed QBs and went Goff/Wentz) and Chargers took Bosa one slot ahead of Dallas at 3. Leaving the Cowboys to draft E. Elliot as a consolation at 4.

Here's the thing. The FANS want a speed WR that can take the top off the defense. I'm not so sure Beane and the Bills place the same value on speed that many assume they do. Now I know, a few years back at the End of season PC, Beane famously said something along the lines of "I'd love to have a guy with Tyreek speed. If you know where these players are...show me." Since then they have had plenty of chances to add speed and declined. Most famously just last year when the opportunity to snag the fastest player in combine history was staring them in the face when they were on the clock...and decided to pass on the opportunity to acquire him and instead swooped up a guy whose 40 is measured by sundial at the top of round 2. They bring usually one "fast" WR in every off-season. MVS last year (doubled down with the Claypool dart throw), Hardy the previous year. At low contracts and then really don't use them deep. Heck even when we had MVS on the roster and on the field, we would see Coleman or Hollins on the deep route more than MVS. Sure they take a swing at a guy...but low value/investment in that role. He's drafted Kincaid and Coleman in back to back years at the top of his draft...hardly blazers. Brought in guys like Sherfield and Hollins. Heck even going back to his Carolina roots and moved a pick for Kelvin Benjamin. Beane typically is going to invest in the larger/slower at the position rather than smaller/faster. His actions have proven that. Not only that but a speed WR, a pure speed guy, goes to waste in this offense for 3 reasons. First off, teams tend to play the shell defense against us a lot. Eliminates the deep ball. Second, we play a good amount of games in cold/Poor weather....which negates speed. And third...you can have Usain Bolt out there breezing past defenses all day long running 10 yards free....and Josh has difficulty hitting a deep ball... especially in stride. A WR in the Bills offense needs to be able to catch in traffic, separate with the ball in his hands and pick up YAC. That's why a guy like Shakir or someone like Cole Beasley can thrive here.

https://www.bengals.com/news/bengals-release-dt-sheldon-rankins-bengals-roster-update Pair of DL released today. Rankins would help but may be too expensive. I don't know much about Walker. Neither would count against the comp pick formula, so odds are they are on Beane's radar.

He won't see that. No way no how. Justin Jefferson is at 35M AAV. I saw the belief is that it's Chase that is seeking 40M AAV. If Higgins signs with Cincinnati it will be far below those numbers IMO. Closer to 30 if that. Now if by chance he hits the open market I'd expect that number to go up as high as 32-34M AAV.

Dean Cain. Yes, TVs Superman.

Raiders are the team I'm watching for Darnold. I'd almost rule the Steelers out as Mike Tomlin is said to prefer a mobile QB especially behind their OL. Daniel Jones may be an option either there or in Indy. There are enough QB needy teams (and this is before training camp/preseason injuries) that someone will make a run at Rodgers. The question becomes if he wants to play for teams that may not be in competition. I've also seen the Bengals will likely tag Higgins but the non-exclusive tag is in play. If he's cut like many expect, Kirk Cousins is likely to be a Brown. Cleveland is broke and due to offset language in his contract, Cousins would be able to sign the same kind of deal Russ Wilson signed with Pittsburgh last off-season. It would also reunite him With his old OC from Minnesota in Stefanski.

I think it's realistic to think that someday we will see Josh in a different uniform. Very rare for players to spend their career with one team. Even some of the greats. Peyton Manning, Favre, Rodgers, heck even Tom Freaking Brady, Montana....all had to move on eventually to continue their career. At some point the price won't be equal to the production and the Bills will turn the page. I don't think it will come from Josh wanting to "go Hollywood" or anything like that. I think he would gladly stay in Buffalo his whole career. But I will say this. If Allen leaves the Bills without winning a Super Bowl...then I hope he retires without one. Would really suck to see him hoist a Lombardi for like... Seattle or the Rams.

He's also had Trevor Lawrence and Kyler Murray throwing home the ball. Bet he could break out even more with Allen as his QB. Speaking of, Kirk and Allen were spotted vacationing together a couple of seasons ago when Kirk was a FA the first time. So we can rationalize there is a built in friendship there. https://jaguarswire.usatoday.com/2022/09/29/josh-allen-christian-kirk-bills/

Lockett still had a 49/600/2 stat line as basically the #3 WR option on a run first team. He can play. Especially on a team where they like to spread the ball...he can make those clutch catches still and move the chains. I would say he and Cooper are about the same these days so whoever could be had cheaper is the one I roll with

Here's the thing. We kinda had one early in the season last year in MVS. As we saw when we cut him and he went to New Orleans, he can still play. He can still separate. Problem really is two fold. Number one, the way defenses play Allen and the Bills kind of prohibits a deep stretch the field WR from getting open. And number two when he does finally get the look for that kind of play, Allen is not an accurate deep ball thrower. Never really has been his strong suit.

Lockett is the WR from Seattle to watch. DK isn't getting traded. It's been reported that every person interviewed for the OC position there was specifically asked what their plan was for DK. When asked about if Lockett is returning, their coach said something along the lines of "we are working through that".

Aging player that's still a big name and often injured? Miami is chomping at the bit already....

No thank you. Guy has more missed games over the last 3 years than sacks over the same period. He was good once upon a time...now he's made of glass.

And the better question...why would Denver trade him? They made the playoffs last year with a rookie QB and solid defense. That's not a team that's selling off parts to rebuild. Giving up their best WR who has a great on field relationship with Nix makes zero sense.

I think Bass's "troubles" were largely overblown by fans. Here's the thing, if you pay attention bro only Bills games (which I know many here do) you're used to seeing kickers from other squads convert FGs at an insanely accurate pace as it seems rarely does a kicker miss against us. If you paid attention to the rest of the league especially last year you would have seen that kickers all over the league were struggling. Flip on Red Zone one Sunday... seriously. At one point they showed something like 10 FG attempts live over a 5 minute span and more than half of those missed...and many of those were from under 50 yards. Compared to the rest of the league Bass was darn near upper tier.

I think he would fit well. He's able to play outside and can separate. Also, coming off an injury an could possibly be had with the type of "prove it" deal Beane likes to fill out.

Answers like that are what end up getting a gal free wings in Buffalo for life.

That's a nice list, however I don't see the Bills in on too many of them. With the way Brandon Beane looks at Free Agency a lot of the time, I suggest that the WR we end up with isn't even a FA yet. Watch for WRs that become cap casualties over the next few weeks. They can be signed and not count against the comp pick formula...which seems like something Beane has been paying attention to the last few years. My name to watch is Christian Kirk. They have Thomas and Gabe Davis is locked in with a big contract. With a new coaching staff in Jacksonville it would make some sense for them to drop Kirk and get the cap savings. I really think if he gets cut he would be firmly on the Bills radar.

Way way way too soon to think about how this class ends up. But I will say I absolutely hate Beane's philosophy of drafting guys at the top of the draft that "may" be elite players in 2-3 years with the high RAS scores as opposed to guys that ARE impactful right off the bus. By the time a guy starts working out as a plus pick, it's time to re-sign him and then they "have earned the right to test free agency"

Agree. And that's why I'm in on a move up the board for a guy like Grant. I would much rather see Beane be aggressive and give up an extra pick or two to secure a guy that can come in and have an impact immediately rather than sit back and see who is left and end up with a development type player.

If we are picking I hope we use it to move up for Grant. If we trade it for a proven pass rusher I'm not upset, either. My fear is some DB or "high motor undersized EDGE"

I think whatever team signs him their fan base will have the "Stevie Johnson" conversation. The whole...is he a TRUE #1 WR or just the top WR here because of target volume and there not being a better option in the pass game. No doubt he will be a target hog most places he goes and will even have some seasons of good numbers. It will be interesting to me to see if he can create players himself (ala Jeffers, Chase, St. Brown) from talent or if it's due to a team forcing him the ball (ala Diggs in Buffalo)

I literally made the same comparison a few days ago in the FA thread. He will never live up to whatever contract he signs IMO