DCOrange

I'm not really comfortable calling it the best in the league mainly due to how bad our opponents have been this season. But it's undoubtedly one of the best; doesn't seem like there is one dominant defense in the league this year.

It requires ESPN+, but I figured I’d summarize the Bills related parts. Link below: https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/insider/story/_/id/32958295/nfl-all-pro-team-2021-bill-barnwell-picks-best-players-every-position-including-jonathan-taylor-micah-parsons-jc-jackson QB: No mention of Josh Allen, though he said he has an MVP column coming soon so he didn’t go into a ton of detail for the QBs here. Interesting fact though is that Aaron Rodgers leads the league in QBR this season at 67.8, which would barely rank inside the top 10 in an average season. WR: Barnwell named two to the first team and two to second. Sounds like Diggs was #5 on his list so he just missed out behind Kupp, Adams, Jefferson, and Hill. I should also mention he included a sort of flex role for guys that split snaps at RB and WR so that he could squeeze Deebo Samuel in. Off Ball LB: Matt Milano made the 2nd team, behind only Micah Parsons and Darius Leonard. Not much detail here; he just says Milano is a stalwart on what might be the best defense in the league. Safety: Jordan Poyer is #1 on the first team. Barnwell says “Poyer has been an eraser in the secondary. When teams have been brave enough to throw in his direction, the result has been a downright depressing passer rating of 3.6. He has five picks and nine passes defensed while allowing 3.1 yards per target and continuing to contribute as a run defender. The Bills rank second in the league in defensive DVOA, and with cornerback Tre'Davious White out for the season, Poyer's partnership with Micah Hyde has kept the team afloat on that side of the ball.”

You don’t need to test negative but your test results must confirm that you’re no longer contagious.

It was both. New England got penalized on the Mac play too for taunting; Trent Brown. I really couldn’t believe that all went our way. After seeing so many penalties called where the QB isn’t even out of bounds yet, to push Mac after he was already out of bounds and have it be a penalty on New England was unbelievable.

He was their starter until he got hurt and the advanced numbers suggested he was one of the best RBs in the league this season (and I think last season too but not sure about that).

Unvaccinated. Most likely out for the next two games.

I think in the case of Derwin James, it's a combination of him being very popular amongst fans and also being very popular amongst players and coaches. Likewise with guys like Tyronn Mathieu and Lamar Jackson, who similarly haven't played well this year. I feel like the whole "Buffalo's defense is among the best in the league and gets no Pro Bowl love" has been a thing for many years now; this team's defense has always been about the sum being greater than the parts. Tredavious White is our one defensive player who is inarguably elite. Guys like Poyer, Milano, and Hyde are in the good to great category from year to year where they should be on the fringe of making it more often than not but that doesn't mean they're snubs when they don't make it IMO. And unfortunately for all three of them, they just don't have the name recognition that guys like Mathieu and Derwin James have garnered. This isn't something specific to Buffalo either. Lavonte David for example has been in the conversation for best LB in the NFL for like 10 years now and he's made one Pro Bowl during that entire time. Some guys just don't get the recognition they deserve unfortunately and some get more than they deserve.

Some numbers re: Poyer relative to the other AFC safeties: 7th in tackles 4th in pass break ups Tied for 1st with two other guys for INTs 6th in PFF grade (1 spot behind Hyde) 2nd in PFF coverage grade 39th in PFF run defense grade He had a pretty good case, certainly better than someone like Mathieu, who probably shouldn't have even been an alternate. But guys like Justin Simmons and Adrian Phillips were right there with Poyer and arguably should have been in front of him. Yeah, they forgot to list inside linebackers for reach team which is where Parsons is listed.

Parsons did make it. One of 5 for the Cowboys.

Neither Tremaine or Perryman should have been near the pro bowl. Milano maybe should have made it. Probably other LBs that were snubbed too.

Poyer’s fine but I don’t think he was pro bowl good personally. Certainly a better case than someone like Dawkins and Edmunds though.

Allen and maybe Milano are snubs. Dawkins shouldn’t have made it.

I think 4 of the top 5, maybe 5 of the top 6 teams are in the NFC.

Singletary is a good runner. Pretty solid vision and good contact balance/elusiveness. The issue is he’s bad at pass blocking and pass catching so you can’t really be a versatile offense with him on the field. He shouldn’t be a starter due to those limitations but he’s the best runner we have.

Yeah, the 2022 pick has turned out pretty much as bad as it could have for them lol. I think it was a worthwhile gamble for them; unfortunately they don't have the right coach in place but Fields was always likely to have a bit of an adjustment period to the NFL. He's a really talented dude but the stuff he was doing at Ohio State was relatively primitive and the supporting cast in Chicago has kinda fallen apart this year. Hopefully the new coach is able to get the most out of him.

They traded up from #20 by using their 2022 first round pick (which appears likely to land in the top 5-10).

The Saints have one of the best defenses in the league this season and the Bucs also had like none of their weapons playing last night. Brady threw for 375 and 4 TDs in the first meeting.

Damn. That sucks so bad for him being in a contract year too. Big loss for the team too. He’s been their best WR for years now IMO.

He shouldn’t be our gesture back long term, but he’s been our best runner all season and has actually run it pretty well when he’s had opportunities.

Lamar is great. They’d be nuts to let him leave. This isn’t a Baker Mayfield situation where it actually might make sense to move on.

I missed the game yesterday but man Huntley must have improved a lot from his previous appearances if this thread exists.

I checked out of curiosity, Edmunds is currently rated the #45 LB out of 83 per PFF. That's the best ranking he's had in 4 years. 2018: 67/91 2019: 47/89 2020: 74/83 2021: 45/83 I've seen mentions of Devin White a lot; he's generally been worse per PFF. He does make the splash plays that Edmunds doesn't, but having watched almost every game of White's career; he too ends up out of place a ton, but he's surrounded by far better players in the front 7, including Lavonte David, who is as good a LB as anyone in the league. Devin White: 2019: 67/89 2020: 62/83 2021: 74/83 My personal opinion: I assumed we would pick up Edmunds' option and I think we'll likely re-sign him but I disagree with both of those things. To me, he is the exact kind of luxury we can't really afford to keep on this team.

They'll get called for interference if the pass is thrown to them and they make contact while the ball is in the air, but basically, illegal contact becomes legal once the QB leaves the pocket, so yes, the amount of time Allen spends outside the pocket would presumably be some sort of factor in this but I doubt it's enough to explain that large of a gap. I'm curious where Allen's 82 number compares to everyone else. That tweet only shows the top few QBs.

Players will almost always agree to this form of restructure as it locks in more money for them long-term. I suppose it isn't a guarantee that they will but it would be shocking if any of them refused. I think releasing Poyer is the worst of the moves that I've listed and don't think it's necessary. This was more an exercise of listing out the options. But the argument in favor is that we spend more on our safeties than any team in the league (granted we have one of the top 5-10 safety pairings in the league) as well. As far as replacing him, most starting safeties make less than the $6.7 million that would be saved by cutting him, so it's very possible to find a starting caliber safety with that money. Again though, not a necessary move for us to make and why create a hole where we don't need to? I think Beasley is probably one that we should consider, though again, it may fall into the unnecessary category. He'll be 33 next season and has taken a step back this season. It's possible he just falls off the cliff so to speak next year and he's paid like a #1 WR when he simply isn't that. And yes, you'd need to just trade Edmunds for a draft pick to net the full $12.7 million. You can certainly net better players than Edmunds with that money unless next season is finally the year his potential turns into reality. I think trading him is probably very unlikely, partially because I think McBeane like him a lot and also partially because I think it'll be difficult to get good picks for him at that figure.

That's why I mentioned some of the moves I had listed were probably not ideal or necessary. Just showing the different options at our disposal. Cutting Poyer definitely falls into the unnecessary category. If I had to make an argument for it, it would be that we spend more on safeties than any team in the league and it's arguably just not that valuable of a position. But our safeties are also one of the top 5-10 pairs in the league without a doubt and they're two of our biggest playmakers. As I showed though, we have plenty of other moves we can make to create cap space if we wish to and most of them wouldn't hurt our team all that much; certainly nowhere near as much as losing Poyer would.