Yobogoya!

That’s only partly true tho — they DID get lucky that Josh wasn’t taken by one of the other QB needy teams they weren’t in a position to leap frog. When they first swapped picks with the Bengals to position themselves for a top QB, they were comfortable with taking any of the top 3-4 qb’s on the board. Beane has confirmed that previously. So if Josh gets plucked no1 overall or goes to the Broncos or Jets, bills are “comfortable” drafting Rosen and this regime goes up in flames within 1-3 years, depending on how much goodwill breaking the drought bought them and just how bad those seasons play out. Unless you think they had Lamar rated over Rosen. But that’s a big, big assumption.

Eh, young running backs in the NFL in the modern era have seemingly been more aggressive about holding out for top money while they can get it and for good reason: they take more punishment than anyone on the field and their value has plummeted in the era of high passing offenses. They have to be more assertive about getting while the gettin's good, and any halfway decent agent is going to push for this type of move. This feels a lot more "just business" than the me-first drama Diggs brought -- which wasn't even about money, really. That was just his ego and wanting the ball. If the Bills can get an above-value return for Cook and he can get his asinine contract? I'd consider that a win for both sides.

Completely agree. Cook is an elite talent but Ty Johnson gives me low key Freddie Jackson vibes. The guy is solid at everything he does and has a tendency of punching way above his weight in the "big play" department.

Rebuilding from Chip Kelly's one year of personnel control, in which he set the franchise back big time (thanks again for Shady, chip!) Before he lost GM duties, he had built a strong team that made Kelly look like a genius. And then once he got control back, he's done just as OP describes: built two different contenders with completely different coaches and QB's. He's not perfect. He's missed on plenty of moves/picks. The guy's still probably the best in the biz.

He says that, but it's not as if he's put that philosophy into practice all too often. I guess Von would be an example, he had been accused by his gf of assault even before the most recent allegation which he served the suspension for. If she hadn't recanted and given the Bills an out, it would have been interesting to see what they did. If the Araiza scenario is anything to go by, Beane probably has a higher willingness to try on the risky prospects than McDermott. When discussing the situation, Beane was more taciturn and came off somewhat disappointed his hand was forced in cutting the guy. Whereas McDermott looked physically ill about the subject, a combination of angry and sick and to his stomach.

Situational play calling could still be improved, and total points for the season doesn’t change that. Tush push to the left over and over into a wall of defenders lives rent free in my head. Those two failed (and horribly derived) 2 pt conversion attempts has real estate up there too, lol.

The seeds of the Carter pick were actually several years in the making: first they dealt Wentz for a conditional pick that became a 1st based on playing time, and then picked up multiple first rounders from New Orleans in a massive pick-swapping trade. That's probably another topic, but chaining draft capital into better draft capital is something Beane could stand to work on as well. He hasn't sold "high" on a player since he was gutting Whaley's old picks, and there's probably been opportunity to do so for guys who had the perception they were better than they were (ie, Tre Edmunds, Gabe Davis)

Yeah, I suppose if there was a big divide between McD/Beane we would have heard some sort of rumbling out of the rumor mill by this point. But I hope they do some deep self-scouting about the "process" this offseason and figure out how to be more flexible with their priorities. I mean hell, you have Josh Allen who is going to win you 9-11 games by sheer willpower alone... you can AFFORD to swing and miss on a high ceiling, high risk prospect. If a Jalen Carter is there for you to take, you can afford to weather it if he doesn't pan out. We can't afford to swing and miss on the Boogie Basham's of the world. What's that guy's ceiling? What's the best case scenario with a day 2 pick like that one? With Josh Allen, there's no reason not to put a premium on talent and go big, because he'll probably get you to the playoffs anyway.

True, but the flip is: how many blowouts get stopped dead in their tracks because a phantom call takes a big play off the board? Momentum is a real thing, and I know we've seen more than once over the years a big play gets negated by a questionable flag, the driving team gets pushed back 10-15 yards, and then the pendulum starts to swing... If a flag takes Cooper Dejean's pick six off the board, you can't just say the game would have ended the same. That's a big shift in points, ball position, morale, etc.

Not me, I said all along go BPA and stockpile talent. I don't care where Beane finds it, he's just GOT to start finding it. (Not that he answers to me or anything, lol) Taking Elam and Coleman to "fill needs" and ending up with players who can't contribute meaningful snaps is not how you spend your premium draft capital when you're in championship mode. We ended up trading for Cooper, anyway. Which we were always going to have to do unless Coleman exploded onto the scene with transcendent play, a very low probability outcome considering his pre-draft analysis.

Legit. Pretty shocking, honestly.

You make a fair point that there's always room to improve, but the Eagles' D was #2 in points allowed per game and #1 in yards. Sacks numbers alone don't tell the whole story, and not for nothing but those numbers you posted show more than DOUBLE the number of hurries compared to ours. (reading is hard ) I think it's fair to say we have a lot more room to improve compared to them.

I don't think there's a coach in the game who doesn't ask his GM to find pass rushers who can do their job at a high level, lol. What we don't know as fans is to what extent Beane is catering to McDermott's vision. McD is a genuinely good dude, and he seems to covet players who are also good dudes. At the least, he likes high leadership, work ethic, minimal off field antics, etc... Is Beane taking premium talent completely off his board because he knows McD won't put up with their behavior? Ie, is there ANY point in the 2023 draft where Beane is comfortable taking Jalen Carter, or is a guy like that basically invisible to this regime? And that's not to say you can't pick up premium talent who are also decent human beings, but I do wonder pretty frequently lately if Beane is operating with a hand behind his back because he has to worry about finding "process approved" talent first and foremost.

I don't think he's on the table either, just answering OP's question about who we could move for draft capital and who would actually command a decent return. A 7th round pick for Elam? Yeah, maybe a 2028 7th....

I don't think you'll get much disagreement about the premise, but it's worth pointing out that the Eagles have impact players at ALL three levels of defense, not just DL. They put a premium on talent and have found difference makers on the line, in the secondary, and in between. If we even swapped just the last two drafts between the Bills and Eagles, our defense would look night and day vs. what we have and what they have.