Inigo Montoya

My take on that game was that the Bills and the Texans were teams with that were pretty evenly matched talent wise. The game was going to be a coin toss from the start. Looking at the game there were multiple factors that swung the game to the Texans. Every bad call in the game went against the Bills. Change a single one of those bad calls and the Bills win. Here are the refs "Greatest Hits" of the game. There wasn't a single bad call against the Texans. I'm not claiming there was a conspiracy by the refs, just horrendous officiating. Before everyone starts the what about Allen, what about Daboll, what about the second half defense arguments, if anyone of these calls goes the other way, the Bills win the game. Once again, not saying there was a conspiracy, just the the Bills had four horrible calls go against them in the game, each one a critical call that screwed the Bills and had a clear effect on the outcome of the game. The first bad call was the officials disregarding the letter of the rule to apply "common sense" to the touch back / non touch back at the beginning of the second half. It reminds me of all those plays where the showboating player drops the ball at the one yard line when he starts to celebrate his TD too early and the officials just give him the TD anyways because he meant to score a TD. Wait a minute... It's the first time since I've been watching football for decades that I have ever seen an officiating crew decide to ignore a rule as written because the player didn't mean to violate the rule. Watch for yourself, the player moves backwards with his arms at waste level behind him. That is apparently the new signal for a touch back in the NFL. Does anyone think that if he had instead run the ball out of the end zone on that play the ref would have called a penalty on him? The end zone official, the one 10 feet from the player ruled that he never gave himself up. The video shows the play and goes in to detail on the touch back rule and how it was ignored in this instance. The second bad call is the non call delay of game on the 3rd and 18 in overtime that the Texans end up converting... https://larrybrownsports.com/football/referees-miss-delay-of-game-penalty-texans/531492 The link discusses this in greater detail. The third bad call is Zach Cunningham's egregious helmet to helmet on Josh Allen in OT. That missed call would have put the Bills inside the Texans 30 with a 1st down... The fourth bad call, and the grand daddy of them all, was the "illegal crack back / blindside block by Cody Ford. Unlike the second half kick off non-touch back where the refs intuit the intent of the player, here the officials decide to apply the literal interpretation of the rule meticulously even though this is clearly not the type of "blind side" hit the rule was written to prevent. If this is a "blind side" hit then there is one of these "blind side' hits on just about every running play in the game. Here is a link to a video that shows the play from every angle. There is also the cross field angle which truly shows just how horrible the call was. I recommend watching the entire video or you can just fast forward to the 1:30 mark to see the cross field angle. I guess Ford was just supposed to stand there an let the DE run past him to tackle Allen.. It still makes me sick. This would play have put the bills in field goal range in OT again.

I don't feel sorry for the Texans at all. BOB has single handedly wrecked the team that beat us in the playoffs last year. I'll buy the guy a steak dinner. It's time for BOB to move on and jack up another one of our Conference rivals. Hello Gang Green!

Bill O'Brien continues to stagger around the League punch drunk making one questionable personnel move after another. When the Hopkins trade went down I went to the Houston Texans version of TBD and read a bunch of the fan's comments flaming BOB for the horrific Hopkins' trade. I think out of all of them my favorite post was the very succinct; "Bill O'Brien is to coaches, what Bill O'Brien is to GMs" He had already managed to win the Triple Crown of Incompetence even before his trade yesterday for Cooks. The first jewel of BOB's Triple Crown was the the Jadeveon Clowney trade to the Seattle Seahawks for a 2020 3rd round pick. The Texans also received Barkevious Mingo who the Seahawks were going to cut, and Jacob Martin a rotational DT. The trade is even more egregious when BOB could look at what the same Seatttle Seahawks got from the Chiefs when the Seahawks traded Frank Clark to them earlier that same year. The Seahawks traded Frank Clark for the Chiefs' 2019 1st round pick and their 2020 2nd round pick. The second jewel of BOB's Triple Crown came just a few days later when he traded with the Miami Dolphins for rookie LT Laremy Tunsil. What did BOB give up to get his new LT with two years left on his contract? Two 1st round picks and a 2nd round pick. I should add that the Dolphins also threw in Kenny Stills because the Dolphin's GM was suffering some major Catholic guilt over how badly he was raping BOB. Now lets compound BOB's GM incompetence with what is currently happening in Houston. Tunsil has already rejected an offer of $18 million a year from the Texans. Tunsill wants to be the highest pain O-Lineman in the League and he will gouge the Texans for at least $20 million a year. BOB gave Tunsil all the leverage, he can't let Tunsil walk after giving up two 1st's and a 2nd to get him to Houston. He basically handed Tunsil and his agent a blank check. Strong work BOB! But the third jewel, the crown jewel of BOB's Triple Crown, was the so stupid is should have been illegal, Deandre Hopkins trade. In exchange for a generational WR talent and a 4th round pick, BOB received a 2nd round pick this year and a 4th next year, and the oft injured RB David Johnson who comes with a $10.2 million dollar cap hit this year and who also has a guaranteed $2.1 million for the 2021 season. What makes this move all the more baffling is that the Cards had already tagged Kenyan Drake and Johnson was going to be released by the Cardinals before the season started and the Cards were just going to eat Johnson's cap hit. BOB to the rescue! Of course his malfeasance was only magnified and highlighted when the Bills gave up a 2020 1st, 5th, 6th, and a 2021 4th for Diggs. There needs to be an intervention in Houston. I have no idea what the owner is doing there. I have never witnessed so much incompetence crammed into such a small window. Even the Browns front office never reached this level of dysfunction. All I know is that someone needs to fire BOB before the end of the season so that he can replace Adam Gase next year as the new head coach of the New York Football Jets.

I remember watching the videos the Bills released after last year's Draft showing their Draft room. It's going to be quite a challenge to be able to manage all that information efficiently. Taking calls to trade up or down, making calls to trade up or down. It seems like they are always talking to several teams at the same time about possible moves. Keeping track of every team's draft picks and their likely positions of need remaining after each selection. Lots of moving parts. The League might want to give an extra minute or two for each selection. Here's a link to that video...

Below are the career stats for the WRs the year Diggs was drafted. Drafting WR is a total crap shoot. The first two numbers after the year "2015" is the draft round and overall draft number. The last three numbers in the columns are : Catches / Yards Receiving / TDs 1 2015 1 4 Amari Cooper WR 21 OAK 2015 2019 0 4 5 39 77 72 8 27 0 357 5097 33 Alabama College Stats 2 2015 1 7 Kevin White WR 23 CHI 2016 2018 0 0 0 2 14 5 1 9 0 25 285 0 West Virginia College Stats 3 2015 1 14 DeVante Parker WR 22 MIA 2015 2019 0 0 3 23 70 45 235 3419 18 Louisville College Stats 4 2015 1 20 Nelson Agholor WR 22 PHI 2015 2019 0 0 5 21 71 62 11 60 0 224 2515 18 USC College Stats 5 2015 1 26 Breshad Perriman WR 21 BAL 2016 2019 0 0 0 11 51 10 7 20 0 95 1561 11 Central Florida College Stats 6 2015 1 29 Phillip Dorsett WR 22 IND 2015 2019 0 0 0 14 71 15 13 84 0 124 1634 11 Miami (FL) College Stats 7 2015 2 37 Devin Smith WR 23 NYJ 2015 2019 0 0 0 2 18 5 15 248 2 Ohio St. College Stats 8 2015 2 40 Dorial Green-Beckham WR 22 TEN 2015 2016 0 0 0 7 31 12 68 941 6 Oklahoma College Stats 9 2015 3 69 Tyler Lockett WR 22 SEA 2015 2019 1 1 4 37 79 55 38 256 1 276 3838 27 Kansas St. College Stats 10 2015 3 70 Jaelen Strong WR 21 HOU 2015 2017 0 0 0 2 20 3 31 330 4 Arizona St. College Stats 11 2015 3 76 Chris Conley WR 22 KAN 2015 2019 0 0 3 18 69 48 151 2013 11 Georgia College Stats 12 2015 3 87 Sammie Coates WR 22 PIT 2015 2018 0 0 0 4 45 6 4 14 0 29 528 2 Auburn College Stats 13 2015 3 94 Ty Montgomery WR 22 GNB 2015 2019 0 0 0 15 58 16 224 1035 7 120 982 3 Stanford College Stats 14 2015 4 105 Jamison Crowder WR 22 WAS 2015 2019 0 0 2 25 72 40 16 68 0 299 3461 20 Duke College Stats 15 2015 4 107 Justin Hardy WR 23 ATL 2015 2019 0 0 0 8 73 6 95 946 9 East Carolina College Stats 16 2015 4 123 Vince Mayle WR 24 CLE 2015 2017 0 0 0 0 23 0 2 2 1 Washington St. College Stats 17 2015 4 132 DeAndre Smelter WR 23 SFO 2016 2016 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 23 0 Georgia Tech 18 2015 5 139 Rashad Greene WR 22 JAX 2015 2018 0 0 0 2 25 1 30 185 2 Florida St. College Stats 19 2015 5 146 Stefon Diggs WR 21 MIN 2015 2019 0 0 5 40 70 63 29 159 0 365 4623 30 Maryland College Stats 20 2015 5 156 Tony Lippett WR 23 MIA 2015 2018 0 0 1 6 28 13 Michigan St. College Stats 21 2015 5 159 JJ Nelson WR 23 ARI 2015 2019 0 0 0 12 58 16 12 120 1 85 1475 11 Ala-Birmingham 22 2015 5 162 Kenny Bell WR 23 TAM 0 0 0 Nebraska College Stats 23 2015 5 175 Keith Mumphery WR 23 HOU 2015 2016 0 0 0 2 27 6 24 198 0 Michigan St. 24 2015 6 184 Kaelin Clay WR 23 TAM 2015 2018 0 0 0 3 22 2 3 27 0 6 85 0 Utah College Stats 25 2015 6 186 Geremy Davis WR 23 NYG 2015 2019 0 0 0 0 36 1 5 59 0 Connecticut College Stats 26 2015 6 187 Evan Spencer WR 22 WAS 2015 2015 0 0 0 0 1 0 Ohio St. College Stats 27 2015 6 201 Bud Sasser WR STL 0 0 0 Missouri College Stats 28 2015 6 204 Darren Waller WR 22 BAL

Nice post. Couldn't agree more. Here is a link to all the WRs taken in the 2015 NFL Draft. Spoiler, Diggs didn't get selected until the 5th round. He was the 19th WR selected in the Draft. Look at all the WR who went before him. Some good, some not so good. Many are just now hitting their stride. The only two WRs in that draft class who are in the same conversation as Diggs are Amari Cooper (1st WR drafted) and Tyler Lockett (9th WR drafted). The Draft is always a roll of the dice. Diggs is a known commodity WR1 who is on a team friendly deal. I would rather take Diggs now than what's behind curtain #2. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/play-index/draft-finder.cgi?request=1&year_min=2015&year_max=2015&draft_round_min=1&draft_round_max=6&draft_slot_min=1&draft_slot_max=500&pick_type=round&league_id=NFL&pos[]=wr&conference=any&show=all&order_by=default

Tre'Davious White has two seasons under his belt and I don't think he has hit his ceiling yet. Lining up everyday against Diggs in practice has got to push his development. I think it's fair to say that on most Sundays, Tre' is not going to line up against wide receivers who are as good as Diggs. I think one of the under appreciated benefits of bringing Diggs in, is how it will help elevate the play of Tre' and the entire secondary. Conversely, Diggs will also have to elevate his game going against a top 3 NFL corner and elite secondary on the daily. Win - Win for the Bills. The NFL makes $5 billion a year from the TV contracts and it is expected that that number will increase by 25-30% with this new deal. Some network execs say the broadcast rights could go up as much as 50% this time around. Those negotiations are underway right now with no clear time table for any announcement, but it is fully expected to happen this year. The current contract runs out in 2022. One interesting rumor is that the new contract will do away with exclusive Conference (AFC/NFC) affiliations, so AFC games will end up on multiple networks throughout the season. The new CBA gives the players 48 - 48.5% of the NFL's revenue starting in 2021. The majority of that is in the TV rights. The players currently get 47% and the new CBA is expected to increase the players cut by $5 billion over the course of the 10 year CBA. As for these TV negotiations impacting Tre' White and the Bills, I'm hoping that after the NFL negotiates the new TV contracts, that Tre's agent will give the green light to start talking about a contract extension. I think it would be fiscal malpractice for Tre's agent to jump the gun on negotiations before he has an idea of how much money is going to be in the pot for teams to throw around with the new TV contracts. That may also be why there hasn't been a lot of movement on Dawkins and Milano too. Beane hinted at that in the presser today. He said it "takes two" to get a deal done. I suspect that there are a lot of players, agents, and GMs waiting to see those numbers and then we will likely see a bunch of deals getting done around the League pretty quickly. The Bills need to lock up Tre' ASAP.

I agree that to have sustained success you need to look at roster and salary cap management with the long view. I think you also need to take advantage of a situation when it presents itself to you, and I think we are in a legitimate window to bring a Super Bowl back to Buffalo in the next two years. We have a QB on his rookie contract, most of the other "skill players" are also on reasonable contracts. We have an established offense and defense in a League where we will have a truncated off season placing those franchises with new head coaches (5) new D coordinators (11) and new O coordinators (10) at a serious competitive disadvantage. How many more teams will have a new QB under center? On top of that we are now sitting in a division where for the first time in 20 years we are favored to win and grab a home playoff game. Everything is lining up this year for the Bills (if we have a season). This year is the best chance we've had to win a Lombardi since the Kelly Era. It's not the time for Beane to be timid, it's time for him to strike while the iron is hot. All I want is just one Super Bowl for the Bills in my lifetime, for these long suffering fans and our beleaguered city. That's all I ask for. My brothers and I buried our wonderful father last year in his favorite Buffalo Bills sweatshirt. He never got to see his Buffalo Bills, Braves, or Sabres win a championship. It's f***ing time.

We are in a unique situation right now in Buffalo with a very talented roster from top to bottom, while at the same time being in a very cap friendly situation. That will change significantly over the next 2 seasons as Beane begins re-signing our solid players who are currently on their rookie contracts. Below is a list of the top six highest paid positions in the NFL, and the average salary for that position across the League; https://sportsaspire.com/average-nfl-salary-by-position QB $16-16.3 mil DE $13-13.2 mil DT $9-9.7 mil RB $9-9.5 mil WR $12-12.4 mil CB $11-11.2 mil Here are the highest paid players at each of those positions on the Bills' roster right now; https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/cap/ QB Allen $5.8 mil DE Hughes $9.5 mil DT Star $8.1 mil RB Yeldon $1.9 mil WR Diggs $11.5 mil CB Norman $5.8 mil At every position our highest paid player is below the NFL average for that position. Those savings at the marquise positions free up money for Beane to add solid depth along the entire roster. Beane can bring in quality back up / depth players and roll players on $2-3 mil contracts. We have at least one more year with that flexibility. After that it will be time to look at extending Allen, and White should have his new contract and things will start getting tighter for Beane. We are in a two year window to get to a championship. Beane has been quoted as saying that the Bills are ready to win now. The numbers and our roster bear that out. The Bills are ready to win now and I think he will change his draft philosophy to reflect that. He may not be drafting to build a roster for success down the road like in the last two drafts, but instead looking at drafting who this team needs to win right now. It may also color how he looks at bringing in an additional difference making free agent before the season starts.

I agree with both of you. If Allen isn't able to identify the Hot Route and get the ball out to the right receiver in year three, then as much as I like Allen and his physical abilities, then I think we are probably looking at his ceiling right now. We're not thinking of anything that Allen himself and the coaching staff hasn't already thought of. If Allen isn't studying game film, watching play after play of these blitzes during this off season to help him better identify the blitz and decide where the ball needs to go quickly, I'd be shocked.

Both Daboll and Allen seem to like the "Empty" formation with 5 receivers and no RB in the backfield. I have tried to find some stats that break down how often the Bills used this formation compared to other sets on pass plays last season, but I haven't been able to find them on line. The addition of Diggs this year completely changes this formation for opposing teams to defend. Defenses would typically sub into their Nickle or Dime packages and move a safety over to John Brown's side to cheat on him and cover him high boxing him between the corner and the safety. That takes two of the 5 or 6 DB/LB out of the play covering Brown leaving 3 or 4 DBs / LB to cover the other four receivers in the play. Now defenses are going to have to cheat to Diggs side with that safety coverage over the top which will leave Brown with a single defender. Can they double Brown too? They are running out of DBs to cover all of the receivers on the line now. Do you put Foster and McKenzie out there with Diggs and Brown and have them all sprint deep and clear out the entire middle of the field for Beasley on a quick slant to the middle? That play sounds like an easy 7-10 yards 4 out of 5 times. Do you curl Beasley and Duke into the middle of the field and pull coverage down into the box and leave a corner one on one with Diggs, Brown, and Foster streaking straight down the field? One of those guys is going to have one on one coverage with no safety help over top and will be there for a big play. There are only so many CBs to go around. Who ends up with the LB or Safety on him... Foster, McKenzie, Beasley? I'll take that match up every time. What happens when Daboll has all the receivers run deep and then pulls the guard, Allen tucks the ball and runs behind those big O-lineman into the cleared out side of the field. Let Allen get a couple nice chunks of yardage on that play and now the D-Coordinator is going to have to worry about dropping all his LBs into coverage to help his DBs on these empty sets. If Allen sees the LBs cheating into coverage he audibles to the run play. If the LBs are tight to the line, he sticks with the pass play. What a nightmare for the defense. You just have to pick your poison if you are the defensive coordinator and decide who you are going to cheat on and just pray you don't get burned. The amount of variations and twists and different combinations that Daboll will be able to scheme up with this "empty" formation will be crazy this year and I expect that we are going to see tons of this 5 WR set this season. The line should give Allen the time and now he has the weapons out there with Diggs in the mix to make it very dangerous for defenses to cheat. I'd love to see Beane pick up a vet WR4 like Rashard Higgins and let him push Duke, Foster, McKenzie and the rookie WR in camp to get on the field. I don't think Allen is going to have too much trouble throwing for 300 yards in a game this season. This is going to be fun to watch.

Hopefully Beane can put on his wizard's hat and once again trade those players that aren't going to make the cut on this deep roster and stock up on some more draft capital to use like the 5th and 6th round picks (Teller / Bodine) that were a part of the Diggs deal.

The era of the Bell Cow RB is over. The punishment on their bodies is just too great for someone to soak up that many touches. Even a beast like Derrick Henry was breaking down at the end of the season and missed some time and his availability in the playoffs was in question. RB is a two player position today. A good team should have a 1a and a 1b at that position. We definitely have the 1a in Singletary. Lets get the 1b in the draft.

We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. Nsekhe is our back up LT. Nsekhe made 10 starts at LT for Washington in the two season before we signed him. He played fantastic in those games, that's why Beane went out and got him. Nsekhe played better than Ford at RT last year in my opinion. If Ford wasn't a second round pick and given some special consideration by the coaching staff, I don't think Ford gets on the field ahead of Nsekhe at RT last season at all. The Bills are not getting rid of their backup LT who is on a team friendly 3.7 mil contract this year. It doesn't matter how good Williams is. Beane didn't bring Williams in so he could get rid of Nsekhe.

I think Motor is great. At 5' 7", 203 lbs I worry about his durability across a full season and playoff run. We need a solid 1b to go with Singletary's 1a. He was used sparingly last season and still missed three games with his hammy. The most carries he had in a game all season was 21. We need another skilled RB to pair up with him.

They will not release Nsekhe. He is a high quality swing tackle, can play left or right side of the line. He would be a starter on most teams. Nsekhe was clearly seen by Beane as our starting RT when they signed him until Ford dropped in the Draft. He is also first man up at LT if Dawkins gets banged up. We have plenty of guard depth, not as much tackle depth. Nsekhe is safe on this roster unless some team is willing to back up a Brinks truck to One Bills Drive to get him.

Fair points Shaw. The reason I think we need to have two legit RBs is that I don't trust Motor to make it through a 16 game season and a playoff run without getting dinged up at some point and missing time just like last year. He's just 5'7' and 203 lbs. Not the kind of frame designed to take a weakly beating. Daboll barely used him during the first two games of the season and then he got hurt on his 6th touch in Week 3 and then was out for 3 weeks. He came back in Week 6 and only had seven rushing attempts. Week 7 he had just three rushes and four receptions. The most rushes he had all season in a game was 21. I'm a big Motor fan but I'm worried about him handling a full season + playoffs work load. I think we need a 1b to go with Singletary who is our 1a, to split the load. Someone who has a little bit of size to him so he can also be our short yardage / goal line back. We need another RB who is an actual threat to do some damage when he spells Singletary and doesn't just signal a passing down to the defense. I don't think that RB is Yeldon. Christian Wade is intriguing, but I don't think this franchise would be smart to hang its hopes on him at this point in his development. As for an EDGE rusher, the number of sacks is just one metric. Right now I don't think we have an edge rusher that the other team needs to really game plan against the way we would game plan against a Myles Garrett or Khalil Mack. If we can put that kind of disrupter on the end of our line who dictates a constant double team, that opens up the middle for Oliver to do his thing. If they need to double Oliver and our DE, such as Ngakoue, then they have committed four players to blocking two of ours and that will be almost impossible to do. I'm not saying that Oliver is Aaron Donald, but imagine dropping Ngakoue next to Aaron Donald on a passing down and being the offensive linemen who have to stop those two side by side. The Bills defense was great last year, but imagine how much better they could be with a premier EDGE rusher lining up next to Oliver. I think our defense could be historically great, '01 Ravens / '85 Bears great.

We lost ; Zo Alexander OLB Jordan Phillips DT Shaq Lawson DE Kevin Johnson CB We added; Mario Addison OLB Vernon Butler DT Quinton Jefferson DE Josh Norman CB AJ Klein OLB Tyler Matakevich ILB We will also get Harrison Phillips back at DT We did lose some pieces on D, but I think we added some decent replacements, even possible upgrades at those positions. Some of them have played in McDermott's system before. I still think our D will be solid this year.

I agree with you, last year's D was elite. I think our D could be historically great with a legitimate edge rusher like Ngakoue. The Ravens won the Super Bowl in '01 with that amazing defense and Trent Dilfer at QB. The Ravens didn't even bring him back next year. For better or worse, our offense is pretty much set right now for 2020 except for the RB2. If we can put Ngakoue on this D we might not need as much out of Josh Allen and the offense. Defenses can win championships. The final score of Super Bowl LIII, just the year before last, was Patriots 13 --- LA Rams 3.

I believe the Bills are just three pieces away from being a serious Super Bowl contender. One of those pieces is already on the roster, one should not be too hard to come by, and the final piece will cost a pretty penny. The first piece is a QB who is able to lead an offense that can score an average of 24 points a week. Last season the Bills averaged 19.6. The top six offenses last season were Ravens 33.2, San Fran 29.9, Saints 28.6, Bucs 28.6, Chiefs 28.2, and Dallas 27.2 points per game. Obviously averaging 28 points a week from Josh Allen and Co. would be even better, but I think that with our defense coming back essentially intact, we can probably be in every game if the offense can just score 24 points. Josh Allen needs to take another step and with another year in the League and in this offense, with O-Line stability and more playmakers, the table is set for him to play much better. He wasn't a turn over machine last year, far from it, he had 9 INTs and 4 lost fumbles for a very respectable 13 turnovers during the regular season. A QB averaging less than one turn over a game is solid. Allen protects the ball, now he needs to start putting some more points on the board. The second piece is a solid backfield compliment to Singletary. Whoever they are is not on the roster yet. The RB back position is the one position that a rookie can step in from the college ranks and make a difference. That may be the way to go because the free agent RB market is drying up fast. Devonta Freeman, Lamar Miller, and Chris Thompson are probably the three best still out there. Not very inspiring. That is why I think the Bills go best RB on the board with their pick in the 2nd or 3rd round like J.K. Dobbins out of Ohio State or A.J. Dillon out of Boston College who is a bruiser at 6'0' and 247 lbs. Our own version of a thunder and lightning with him and Motor in the backfield. A second RB is still a big hole on this roster and it needs to be addressed if we are going to contend for a championship The third piece is an honest to god EDGE rushing beast who can consistently get after the QB. This is going to be the expensive part. The Bills finished 12th in the League last year with 44 sacks. For reference, the top squad was Pittsburgh with 54. Watching our defense last year swarm the ball, repeatedly bend but not break, and only give up an incredible 16.2 points per game (behind only the Pats at 14.1), I think many would be happy to just stand pat where we are and that would be a reasonable argument, but I would disagree. We are trying to beat out 31 other teams to the championship. We are in a two year window with Allen on his rookie contract and a wide open division. We need to strike now. I think adding Yannick Ngakoue from the Jags would be the final piece of the puzzle. It would be expensive and would almost certainly cost us next year's first and eat up a bunch of our remaining cap space this year. Would Clowney on a 1 year "prove it" deal be a reasonable, less expensive option? Maybe. I'd rather go with Ngakoue who by all accounts seems more like a "Process" guy than Clowney. Ngakoue is only 25 and Clowney is 27 with more of an injury history. We are not going to draft a rookie EDGE in the 2nd round this year who is going to be an immediate difference maker. I don't think that anyone we would add with a late 1st round pick next year would have the kind of impact that Ngakoue would. More to the point, that 1st round pick in next year's draft doesn't help us at all this year when we have a real chance to make a run. Putting a beast like Ngakoue on this defense right now would create the scariest defense in the NFL and would make life very tough on Lamar Jackson and Mahomes who we need to get past to get to the Super Bowl. Having a stronger defense would provide Allen and the offense with an even bigger cushion this year. I think now is the time to make these moves. (1) Allen takes a step, (2) grab a solid RB2, (3) make a deal for Ngakoue, and the Buffalo Bills will be true contenders for the AFC crown and a Super Bowl berth. It's time for Beane to push his chips into the middle of the table.

The Perriman signing is a good signing by the Jets. I'm sure Joe Douglas tried to get Anderson back but Anderson was in that dumpster fire of a locker room last season being run by chief arsonist Adam Gase, and I'm sure Anderson was looking for a both a payday and a change of scenery. Perriman was the last decent WR left in the free agent market. Douglas was left with no other real option but to bring him in and hope that the Perriman that spelled Mike Evans at the end of last season is the Perriman that shows up for training camp and the regular season. Perriman, Crowder, and Enunwa isn't a bad trio plus they have Bell who is a solid receiving back. The Jets new GM Joe Douglas has tried to pull a Beane and has brought in several low-mid range free agent O-Lineman who might prove to be an economical upgrade on last year's horrific line. Fant could also end up being the worst LT in football and get Darnold killed. Time will tell. Douglas is someone who came up under Ozzie Newsome and it looks like he is trying to do things right, and he is certainly a huge upgrade over Mike McCagnan who was a train wreck of a GM, but I still believe that as long as Adam Gase is coaching that team, the Jets will be stuck in neutral.

You can't call it "Spanish Flu". That's racist... ?

According to Sportrac, https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/cap/ the Bills have $33,299,716 left in the kitty right now. That number does not include the contracts for Quinton Jefferson, Taiwan Jones, Dean Marlowe, or Tyler Matakevich. I have no idea how much their contracts will count against the cap. The Jefferson signing alone is reported to be a 2 year deal worth $13.5 MM. I have no idea how that breaks down into the cap, but I think it's probably safe to say that will bring the cap number down to at least $29MM. We need to have some money in the till to sign our draft picks. Last year people threw around the number $8 MM to get that done. This year we have no 1st rounder so maybe we can cut that number in half and say $4 mm for draft picks and that brings us down to $25 MM. Most GMs like to carry about $8-10 MM into the regular season to deal with injuries and other opportunities that arise. Not sure how much Beane likes to keep in his back pocket. We also have several players that we all anticipated that the team would tender new contracts to this off season like Dawkins and Milano that have not been resigned yet. I'm sure Beane would also like to carry some of this year's cap forward into next year (he carried $22 MM over in cap space from last year). Put it all together and it looks like we are sitting at $25MM right now and still some of our own young players to sign, we need an emergency fund for the season, and will probably want to carry some cap forward into next year. It looks to me that we are likely done in free agency this year. Any big signings would require that we dump some significant contracts to make space. I think Beane followed his successful free agency strategy from last year. Expend some capital and grab one big name free agent at our position of greatest need, Morse/Diggs, and then shop for mid range free agents who provide a good possibility of an upgrade at their positions.

Truce... I regretted that post the minute I sent it. The post is reflective of how I feel about these issues, but TBD is not the place to have that discussion and I apologize for giving into the temptation to climb up on my soapbox. This message board is one of the few escapes from the toxic politics that permeate every facet of our lives now. We need to work to keep it that way.

In that same generosity of spirit, I would like for you to run out and give a homeless person half of your house and all of your belongings for free. You have way more than that homeless person does. Apparently that homeless person is just as entitled to the fruits or your labor, skill, experience, effort, and time as you are...