WideNine

Was wondering the same thing...was tilting my head looking at his picture, he and Ryan Miller have got to hang out together some time and take a selfie.

I would have to go with Stupidity. As far as staying a fan....liberal amounts of stubbornness, masochism, unrequited optimism, and foolish pride.

Honestly don't care that much as I would have been happy with Darnold or Allen. Both can win games, but Allen is just so much more entertaining to watch play. You can never say a play is dead with that kid either scrambling or throwing a strike 40 yards downfield. Been a long time since our offense was actually fun for me to watch. Ran into a Vikings fan on my flight with the Fam to Costa Rica. The dreaded "what's your team question came up", not like folks are jerks, but I hate the pity. Told him I was a Bills fan and he went on and on about how he thought Allen was a rare talent and would develop into a great QB. Said he was an NDSU alumni had been following Wyoming football for a while, particularly since they hired some former NDSU coaches to run that program. He was not surprised with what Allen did against the Vikings, and he thought Allen was going to surprise a lot of folks. Was a pleasant surprise to have that kind of conversation about my Bills. Also said it sucked we were in the same division with Belichick, made the Rams offense look silly in the SB.

Quoting Bill again Kelly.

I was thinking the same thing the other day, that some folks treat the 9th pick like it is a lock to succeed. Up to recently I felt the Bills were incapable of making a 1st round selection that could be productive in the league, let alone a game-changer (unless it was a corner). As an organization we seemed to be more "money" on those middle picks 3-5 round selections. Even with the concession above, I still see Beane going defense - simply because they have not gone after a DE or a DL in free agency, but they did get a veteran TE in Kroft. The Bills could use some push on the DL against the run, and could use someone to groom on the Edge behind Hughes, and the draft is deep at the top with this talent. Does not mean they do not grab a TE later for depth, as I could see them carrying 3 on the roster.

It feels like they are positioning themselves away from this as a reach move early in the draft. Still see RT or G depth later in the draft.

I see a lot of posts from our more objective TBD vets that Hock at 9 is not where he should be. I agree, and feel like he should be in that 15-26 range of the 1st. That being said his stock keeps rising and many "experts" or just folks that rank these guys for a living have him off the board before 15. Several and old Mel have him going to Detroit at 8. We all know that draft value is not always BPA, but also demand. If enough teams like a player and doubt he will fall, his chances of being drafted sooner rises. I like Hock, but don't think he will be in the cards for our Bills. The consolation is the draft is deep with TEs, and we could still nab a good one (Oliver, or Warring), just please no 6'2" Irv Smith. Concede the guy was productive in college and should find some success as a flex receiving option at the next level, but I just prefer bigger TEs less likely to get steamrolled if asked to block an NFL calibre DE.

I think the best way to describe GM-speak in regards to BPA is "prescriptive BPA". The BPA that fits team needs - usually there are enough of them (needs) to have a potential game-changer where you are drafting sans reaching. Needs also are are not always obvious as they could be picking a player that they feel can backfill a current solid player that will hit FA in a year or two. But just blindly picking the best NFL athlete sans a host of team need considerations - I don't believe that exists or if it does, not for long as that FO wont last.

Not sure how I feel about these. Obviously we have to acknowledge that Beane and McD are pretty good at evaluating FO talent and bringing those guys in. That feeling competes with my less enthusiastic feeling of teams poaching our talent aka: Phins grabbing Marvin Allen as their Assistant GM and now teams eying up Dan Morgan. Selfishly I want the Bills to get the most we can out of these guys before they advance their careers elsewhere and help other teams especially rival orgs. Which competes with the idea that we attract more personnel and FO talent when there is a reputation that the Bills organization is great at grooming FO talent and building attractive resumes. So - sort of happy I guess.

Quality depth guy that struggled a bit with all the complexity in the NE scheme, plus they have pretty good depth that they tested by sitting him later last year so I think they were already thinking they could save some $ with the move. He had success, and may be a better fit for the Bills - good signing if true.

We need a Defensive Linemen who can penetrate and play on the other side of the line of scrimmage with excellent run-stopping ability, and our Special Teams is still a big "?" although the missing returner element has been addressed. O-line I cannot say as OBD added a coach who has a solid resume, and pulled in some key vets. Our "D" lacked push and teams could run on us. Now before folks pull the #2 overall defense blanket over their heads to hide from the truth consider: We have a pedestrian run "D" (16th rank), then consider how poor we were stopping teams from scoring in the red zone (30th rank), I would add that I think we were also pretty poor in defending short yardage runs that converted down and distance, but I will admit I could not find the stats to back that up (just my eyes). Then add poor ST play which too often placed our D (with the weaknesses above) in close to the worst field position situations (30th in opponent drive starts). Mix these all together and you find your team has needs on the defensive side of the ball and on ST (the latter most of us agree on). I know what our overall defensive ranking was, but over the years teams are using more spread offense and passing more, and our D is solid there. Our D struggled defending against the run in the usual short down and distance situations and in red zone situations. Teams were very successful against the Bills in those limited situations, but only Belichick and a few others decided to see how far they could push that advantage of porous run "D". That is why I feel our defensive ranking is deceptively skewed. It is a copy-cat league, teams will take notice and test the Bills more in this area this season. I realize there are other factors that can help mitigate the above - improved ST kickoffs, punting, and coverage to tilt the field a bit and get us out of the 30th ranking hole, and getting Josh to better embrace the time of possession concept when our defense has been on the field too long.

Was going to do something weak like blame my phone, but gotta respect Karma.

Oh no! Karma much? Good catch

I admit, I was bashing him pretty hard myself (for his play)...thought he and Mills were likely going to get Shady or our shiny new Josh killed. Things happen and players lose focus, and I am not sure Juan was the right coach to help him through that. He's a young guy, and that was a classy farewell, so I found I really did hope he gets his game back on track.

Honestly hope he finds the game he was flashing early on. Different coaches, different situation, and some fire in the belly to prove folks wrong. Sometimes all it takes. In all seriousness, I wish him luck.

And Miller is going to the Benglas....this time of year it is just too easy Everyone is in a rush with lots of updates.

I have heard of Gabbert, but who is this Grabbert guy??

Plant your feet and hope they run into you?

I have seen a lot of discussions about the minimal "impact" of the TE position, and I find them a bit confusing. Clearly for some it means just number of receiving yards, but that is not the only thing I would want from my TE, nor is it the best means of evaluating the impact of a good TE. Receiving yards (that move the chains - in critical short yardage situations or dump offs where a QB is in trouble), blocking that improves the running game, contributions in pass pro that buy your QB more time. Certainly understand the argument about where other "impact" TE's have been taken, but when evaluating the offensive impact and BPA of the position we should evaluate all the aspects of the TE role not just the number of receiving yards. Stress, this is not to say that you cannot find good TE value in later rounds, just that there is more to the positional analysis than finding TEs who are 1000 yd receivers. Also consider that teams often carry a TE they can slot as their flex receiving option who cannot block worth a crap, and another TE who primarily blocks and is not a great receiving option. Finding a TE that can do both can save you a roster spot and allows you to do more and be more creative using the same personnel sets.

Croom fits that slot TE roll. Don't see him as the 3 down option. Kroft is serviceable and a better blocker. I still see room for one guy to groom to replace and/or backup the position, but my gut tells me that would be a later round move for the Bills.

I like Hock a lot, but think there are options out there. Probably not as NFL ready as I think Hockenson will be (they do a good job coaching that position at Iowa), but there is talent in this draft. What I don't get are the folks still putting Irv Smith in this discussion. 6' 2" and meh combine numbers. Would not be the guy I would slot as my TE.

You have to kind of follow Iowa games to make sense of the stats...they leaned more on Fant early and gradually Hockenson became their 3 down TE and Fant was their flex option in the slot and such. Good breakdown between what both bring to the game: https://www.hawkcentral.com/story/sports/2019/03/06/iowa-football-noah-fant-t-j-hockenson-anthony-nelson-amani-hooker-stand-out-nfl-combine-indianapolis/3080310002/

That was the rumor, then proven in the combine when he was dropping perfectly thrown passes. He is more athletic than Hock, although Hock is a much stronger blocker, but if an athletic TE gets open 40 yards down the field and cant hang on to the ball, what's the point? It does not matter if you run a blazing 40 and can leap over buildings if you have hands of stone. Exaggerrating a bit as i think Fant can develop into a decent TE with some concentration lapses, but my patience for dropped balls is pretty low. That is why the other TE I like in this draft is Josh Oliver. Athletic, lacks the blocking and route polish the Iowa TE's get but the foundation is there, and has the biggest hands of the combine prospects...and a good reputation for not dropping balls.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.... busy FA period with some IMO sound prescriptive signings. It was close, but you beat me to the punch

This. I don't see Allen at 9, Dawkins is staying and has another year at LT with a better O-Line coach to get his game back on track, I think DL at 9. I don't see them shoring up the offense at all in the 1st rd - IMO. I really like some of the offensive skill guys that are slated to go rd 1 (I think Hock will be a solid TE in the league), but I am not going to talk myself into believing they make the most sense in a draft where the top-end talent BPA are stacked on the defensive side. I have been surprised by OBD before, we will see.