Kelly the Dog

King also said that Bills veterans "loved" Sammy Watkins so put that issue to rest.

No. I liked Dak. He had all the tools. Didn't predict he'd be that good of course but he was one of very few players that were worth a flier on. One quarter of first preseason game means nothing. Good or bad. I think Yates stinks. But I'd say we win 4-5 games with him.

No. Several teams and insiders were worried about his injury and others were worried about his attitude. Look at the last four drafts and list all of the players where everyone that does this for a living thought he was a can't miss star. Everyone. He had no perceived downside. There were guys with huge talent but question marks. Myles Garrett was 1 overall last year but many thought he was not a guaranteed star player.

You probably know this as well as anyone. But it seems like preseason predictions of the top QBs for the following season at this time of year change about 400% by the time the draft comes. Guys come out of nowhere. Big names have crappy seasons. Half the guys on the ascension don't ascend, etc.

Hide behind the couch. They will never catch you.

I would bet he is light years ahead of Peterman in the coaches eyes at this point. That could change by the opener but they know what they have in Yates, regardless of how he played last night. If Peterman plays as a game one starter we go about 1-15.

If everything goes right, this dude has a good chance to be the second best EJ ever to play on the Bills.

I really don't understand why anyone would say that Sammy is unproven. He hasn't played one game in his career at 100% health. At 80-85% health he has proven to be unstoppable. He's healthy now.

Sure. I didn't mean they were making the decisions. I meant they were eye witness to the opposite of what they are doing when they are making the decisions. Ironic because they got the promotions because of the team success in Carolina.

Great trade and we traded a ton for him, but it really wasn't a "trade up" in the draft. He refused to sign with Indy who drafted him.

Diego Ferrari was a thug, whaddya talkin' about?!!!

Yes, that is what I meant. McDermott and Beane came from a team where most of their best and most influential players were not the kind of guys they are insisting on now. Yup. More evidence it doesn't make any sense.

McDermott would have had 0.0000% influence on that draft pick though.

Of course not, but if either of those two were injured and Sammy wasn't, he would have put up their production with worse quarterbacking. And all indications are that he is completely healthy.

And Carolina won with Cam Newton, Josh Norman, Steve Smith, etc.

Actually Eichel is a good comparison. Sammy has Eichel talent and Eichel has Sammy talent, and way too many Buffalo fans are willing to let that go.

The thing is, players really don't care if their teammates are upstanding citizens. They want them to be team players, for sure. And willing to go to war with them. But in the locker room they just want guys that try hard and want to help them win, which is talent.

It's not even close. In a lot of drafts there is not even one player in the entire draft who is a consensus star. In Sammy's year he was the only player. The year after I don't think there was one. This year's draft there was not one.

Shady, today, in response to the trade... “[There’s] obviously a difference,” McCoy said. “If you compare the two, it’s obvious you can agree who is better.” http://billswire.usatoday.com/2017/08/11/bills-lesean-mccoy-obvious-difference-between-sammy-watkins-jordan-matthews/ And Shady played with and likes Matthews.

Lamonica was never good on the Bills. Never, outside of a few halves of a few games. That wasn't obviously stupid, only in retrospect.

This was my first thought about the trade. Beane and Opie are trying to change the culture and only have high character players and not that Sammy wasn't, but he isn't shy about speaking his mind (wow, a WR?!!!), and they are only interested in player with the same kind of mindset, both of which Matthews and Gaines have the reputation for. What isn't clear is if this strategy of all character players has ever worked on any team in any sport in history.

I made the connection earlier to Jason Peters. In some ways this is a lot like that. The Bills management is deciding they are not going to pay a player worth the going rate in the league. And there are so few of them. Probably less than 30-40 players in the league have "perennial All-Pro talent" and Watkins does. Even McCoy and Dareus may not be at that level.

Not giving him the fifth year was the first mistake they made. Now, re-sign him is the right move. He would have signed if the money was right. The third option is franchise him. He's worth it. This is not the same thing but it's close; it's Jason Peters. The Bills were not willing (stupidly) to pay a fabulous star player what the going rate is and what he is worth. So they let him go to someone that does see how good he is and is willing to not only pay him the going rate but throw in a #1 pick for it. And he becomes a perennial All-pro.

I have seen many examples of in place letters being silent, but not so many examples of missing letters being loud.

Exactly. Thank you. And grouped with those two and all other well schooled, smart, weak armed late round picks the chances of him becoming great are less than one percent. All in!