LSHMEAB

Ehhhh. I think they've given us plenty of reasons to expect the worst. Hopefully "this time" it's different.

Yeppp. While I prefer to remain pessimistic about the prospects of landing Hunt, time(and lack of future incidents) heal all wounds. The Mike Vick example is spot on. It was a story; until he started performing well and didn't have any issues. Hunt would be great not only as a ballcarrier but as a safety valve for Allen. I'm of the opinion that Shady is toast. Redemption/forgiveness is a pretty big tenet of you know what.

I get that we're only two years in or one year in or that 2019 is actually year one; whichever you prefer. But he hasn't produced a competitive roster. I'm underwhelmed by last seasons FA signings & I'm not thrilled with squandering a third rounder on KB or any of the offensive acquisitions for that matter. The reality here is that everything hinges on Allen. If he got that right, he's gonna be fine because my hunch is that McD is calling the shots on much of the defensive personnel. To this point, McDermott has proven he can coach garbage rosters to 9-7 & 6-10 records. On paper, they look like they should have been 5-11 and 2-14. That is impressive and something I can pinpoint. While it's relatively early, Beane hasn't proven anything. I find it puzzling that it's more acceptable to ridicule SM than it is to question BB. It's bizarre to tell you the truth. BB has torn down the house. There is no way to know what kind of builder he is until we have tangible evidence that he can field a competitive roster. While I understand it's too early to say he's a failure, it's also WAY too early to say he's a success. This will be the defining off season. If Beane does his job, the challenge for SM will be to take a quality roster to the next level. We've seen that he's capable of getting the most out of trash. So the central premise of my original post is that I have more confidence in SM than I do BB for the simple fact that I've seen SM get actual results. Maybe Beane's a genius and SM will flame out. Who knows? I'm talking about this exact moment in Bills history.

Yeah. I've heard all the criticism and yet to receive a valid rebuttal. But thank you for your "take." The statement reads like this; "The coaching has been more impressive than the personnel accumulated." Where does your opinion differ? You'll be the first if you have an actual answer.

Didn't bother Pederson. I've never been a big believer in "experience." You either have it or you don't. I'm not saying McVay will fail as a coach, but I don't buy lack of experience as an excuse. Losing a SB is not a building block. As a matter of fact, that team often isn't even competitive the next season.

People act like Doug Whaley was the only GM that spent to the cap and occasionally had issues. That's patently not true and really Bills centric thinking. Pretty much ALL teams spend to the cap and have issues every single year, especially if they want to remain competitive. Whaley's problem was that he never found a true answer at QB. Once you get the QB, you have more flexibility in terms of letting guys loose. The Bills right now are in a perfect spot where they have the QB on a rookie deal. That's precisely when you spend money to surround said QB with talent. It's a constant struggle to remain under the cap for virtually ALL competitive teams. There is really no benefit to stashing all this cash. None whatsoever.

Bottom line. What dollar amount would you like to see the Bills remain under the cap?

Maybin was trash. Let me explain why I single out Kelsay. My primary focus has been defensive end for many, many years going back to missing out on Julius Peppers. I have this desire to see the Bills put together a dominant pass rush. It was pretty awesome to watch the defense play during the season where Mario, Hughes, and Dareus all racked up 10 plus sacks. I understand Kelsay was a hard worker. I HATED the combination of Kelsay and Denney. They're not the same player, but I tend to lump them together. I'm not a fan of defensive ends who set the edge, play the run well, etc. That is where the singling out comes in. It's certainly nothing personal against Kelsay the human being. I have a good friend who was fortunate enough to spend time at practice and said Kelsay was the nicest, most accessible guy on the team. He happened to share my view on the DE position, so it didn't change his opinion of Kelsay the player. When I think of the 2000's defensively, I think of a team that constantly got abused by good quarterbacks because they didn't get home. Constantly gave up third and 12's. Constantly failed on last minute drives. Everyone has a different opinion on why that is and perhaps it SEEMED to happen more frequently than my eyeballs told me, but that's my personal view.

I'm a big believer. If he continues to make plays the way he has, I think he'll be in for a nice payday. That would be a good problem to have 2 years from now. He just seems to be one of those guys that has a knack for big plays. TFL's, FF's, INT's. We'll see if he can keep it up.

I get your frustration buddy. I really do. I just don't think there's a lot of validity to cutting a few guys to gain a tiny bit of cap space. Maybe they cut them because they find better players. Maybe they stick. I've taken plenty of L's in threads and life indeed marches on.

I'm not throwing shade per se, but it just doesn't make a ton of sense. This is chump change relatively speaking and the total amount of cap space we have vs. NY or Indy will not have much bearing on who we're able to sign. It's not a competition to have the greatest amount of cap space.

The cap rises every year. I can see maintaining some space under the cap. It's prudent. That's not where we're at here. We have a TON of cap space with no major impending FA's in 2020. I expect them to be pretty aggressive this year. If they're not careful, they could end up not hitting the cap FLOOR. I agree that it would make sense to stay under by 10-15 mil or so, but anything over that is a waste of cap space.

I'm down.

I agree with part of this and completely disagree with the other. There is absolutely no reason they need an additional 6 million in cap space. It's going to be difficult to spend the money they have. That being said, at what point do they spend the money? Who on the roster are you concerned about paying? Edmunds and Allen in 4 years? White in 3 years? The objective is to play to the cap as much as possible, not stockpile money for some future date. I think they're under some pressure to win this season and I would be surprised if they didn't make some moves you don't expect them to make. They don't have eternity to make this thing work.

You sure about that? This won't be an issue until 2021, but I wouldn't be surprised if Milano got a 9mm deal. Guys who can cover/make plays at that position are in high demand. He was arguably the Bills best defender in 2018.

I've heard reports that he did not want to play in Buffalo and it wasn't just the QB situation. It's hard to imagine he's had some epiphany that suddenly Buffalo is the place for him. Already took less to play elsewhere. I'd be shocked if there was mutual interest. Beane could very well have soured on him as well after the rejection. Seems HIGHLY unlikely.

I don't dislike your picks, but John Brown will not sign with Buffalo. That's what makes this an exercise in futility. I suppose you could make it more realistic and charge 5 bucks for John Brown because a drastic overpay is the only way he's coming. I think our best bet in FA'cy is OL. Morse, James, and Trent Brown seem like realistic options. Also like to take a flier on Maxx Williams. The skill position players will likely come through the draft.

Same. I know the objective is to improve the athleticism of the line this offseason, but that's a task. It would likely take more than offseason to accomplish this. The only two players(Teller/Dawkins) currently on the roster that project as long term guys are far better suited for the power scheme.

That's not fair. RJ didn't throw many picks!

Are you saying McD is making the personnel decisions or that they're so in sync as to be interchangeable? I ask because I'm not a big fan of the personnel decisions but must give credit where it's due for maximizing win totals based on the rosters at hand.

Let the new OL coach decide if he's salvageable/scheme fit and go from there. Any insight on the Rob Johnson scheme?

I remember that sequence VIVIDLY and I was most incensed by Folk banging a 55 yarder like it was a chip shot. "Why do the Bills never catch any breaks?" The older I get, the more I look at what the Bills have done wrong to open the door. I'll take your Parcells quote and raise you a Branch Rickey. "Luck is the residue of design."

There was recently a "confidence meter" poll on TBD and more people were confident in Beane than McDermott. That seemed odd as McDermott has guided a below average team to the playoffs and eked 6 wins out of the perhaps the worst roster in the league. Those are RESULTS. The Polian comments once again made me question the results of that poll. You have a coach who's gotten everything out of bad rosters and a GM yet to prove much. Of course Beane has an opportunity to nail this offseason, but I haven't seen it yet. Seems like a relatively simple concept.

I respect the distinction between LDE and RDE and you make some valid points. That said, Kelsay had plenty of opportunities to rush the passer and he almost never got home. Fine. If they wanted him to stop the run, you better have a pass rusher to bring in on third down. Like I said, he wasn't a terrible player, but as a pass rusher, he didn't get home. That's a big problem. Plenty of LDE's got home during the 2000's.

I distinctly remember it being a nationally televised night game. Not quite sure why I remember that moment so vividly, but not the details. Appreciate the info.