Ethan in Cleveland

Again. He wasn't the second most targeted when Beasley was catching 80 balls in back to back years. Its not Davis that is miscast. It is a lack of a quality slot WR - McKenzie failed, and Daboll/Dorsey's inability to get more targets for Knox.

Thats not accurate and not what a WR2 does. WR2 does not mean 2nd in targets. Its not Davis's fault that the slot WR production has fallen off greatly. Its also not his fault they don't target Knox enough. In a perfect world WR2 would be the fourth most targeted player but have a high YPC and score a decent number of TDs drawing single coverage. Thats exactly what he is.

If you don't think the OL signings Beane made are an upgrade then you really don't know what you are posting. Its fine to question Beane's faith in Brown. Many of us still do. But the investments in the interior OL are a clear upgrade and backup RT should be better as well. Actually Cowherd started out in Tampa covering the Bucs. Grew up in PNW following the Mariners and Seahawks. After Tampa he came to Portland where he got into NBA and college football more. My guess is he would say NFL, College Football, and NBA are his top three in that order.

Still don't understand the Davis hate on this board. Yes he was a bit inconsistent last year but his YPC is elite. He makes difficult catches look routine. He makes a ton of plays. I can forgive some miscues from time to time if he makes up for it with TDs and big catches. If the offense is to play better, it starts with the OL which should be better and then it falls on Allen. People don't want to admit it but he was careless with the ball last year and he missed open guys underneath. Kincaid and another year with Dorsey should help. Run game should be more consistent as well. I think Beane did enough to improve the offense even without Hopkins.

I agree. My point was the stability of the organization allows these guys to come in, contribute, and mostly do well.

A few. Williams and Spain on the o-line signed long term deals after 1 year. Feliciano signed a two year deal and then signed a second deal. More recently Lawson and Phillips.

Combination of age and being a DC for a HC that was a DC has done him in. Rightly or wrongly any success he has had will be attributed to McD and any failures will be assigned to him. It would take a very exceptional set of circumstances for him to get another HC job.

I don’t get the sense people hate him. It's mostly unrealized anticipation and disappointment and that has as much to do with his draft position as it does his performance. I hated Murphy. Edmunds was never in my hate category but I just refused to buy into the notion he was a difference maker in any way.

Good catch. I thought they had a year overlap! Dam I'm usually better than that.

I'd bet 95% of this board would trade three 7-10 seasons for a SB trophy. I watched since 1980. So I've seen the best and the worst the Bills have done after the merger. I'd do anything for the feeling of winning one trophy even if it meant 3 years of no playoffs. Already lived through 17.

Appreciate the comments. Im guilty as any fan of over reacting from time to time.

I agree. I was just praising McD for getting most of these guys to fit in really quickly. As you said it could be who they choose to bring in as well which may be as much or more about Beane. Either way it seems to be working and as others have said probably the only way to fill out the the roster once to you get a handful of high price vets.

I'm a McDermott skeptic but the Floyd signing made me think of how well the culture has been maintained year over year even with these one year rentals. McD has done a real solid job of building a culture that allows these guys to quickly acclimate to the club, produce, and for the most part not be a negative influence. With the notable exceptions of Benjamin and the CB that quit at halftime, I don’t think there is another guy that was brought in and caused any issues. Don't know the whole story on Spain year 2 but that was quickly handled. He has done it in a variety of ways too. He let Kyle Williams be the elder leader while Josh matured. He then let Josh lead, only to bring in Miller at a later time and let him take some of that burden too. The whole time he also has Morse as a reliable steady veteran influence in the background. No doubt Beane has some role in this as well selecting guys that should be a good fit, but this is where McDermott has been exceptional.

Then why was he starting over Epenesa at the end of the season? Who cares at this point. All three of there's guys are roster bottom feeders that will compete for DE4 spot vs PS. I'd try to move Epenesa like Beane did with Ford. Let's get back to the OP. Really like a top 3 DE of Miller, Floyd, and Rousseau!!!

Epenesa is not showing signs of improvement however. He was given a chance to start when Miller went down and played poorly. Lawson beat him out for the starting job and was the starting D end at the end of the season. Agree Lawson is an average player but Epenesa is just not any good. Basham is probably worse but at least he is a bigger body to help against the run. Pretty sure he did it for Denver vs Carolina as well

Ford and Settle will be the best two complements to Oliver he has had. No excuses for Ed now.

No we won't. Oliver extension was a mistake. It is the only real criticism I have for Beane this off season. Floyd signing is a nice move. Pass rush was the one area not addressed. This gives the option to put Miller on PUP for 6 weeks and give him more time to heal. Hopkins was probably never going to happen. Still massive question marks at MLB, but there are at least some bodies on the roster to work with. Prior to Floyd there were not enough DEs on the roster to be competitive. Floyd fills a hole for sure.

Those were garbage sacks last year. Lawson outplayed him. Like this signing Time for Beane to admit mistake and trade Epenesa for a 5th next year. Basham isn't much better but he has size to play in run down situations. Epenesa is useless against the run.

Nope. Go watch the highlight video someone posted today. Oliver faced a single blocker the majority of the time. Even then very few sacks. He's just not that good.

We may be fans but we aren't completely uniformed either. Remember this is the same management team that signed a guy that quit at half time and drafted and played the worst QB in NFL history. They are not geniuses. Oh yeah its the same guys that traded Teller. They make mistakes all the time. We've watched Oliver play for four years. We knew he was undersized coming out of college and shocking he has battled injuries(pectoral, calf, ankle). He has a total of 14.5 sacks in 4 years. I think most on here agreed with picking up the 5th year guarantee. That made sense. I think most were happy to see him play on the last year of his deal hoping he would really ball out. Now he is an overpaid injury prone undersized DT that we hope can live up to they hype coming out college.

I don't see it. Looks like an overspend just like Star. Could have easily been replaced with a day 2 draft pick next year. Hated the pick. He's done nothing to change my mind, and now I hate the extension. All we can do now is hope he stays healthy and puts up 8-10 sacks this year with McD calling the plays.

I'm guessing he was thinking of Daryl Williams, Star, and maybe Quinton Spain. All of these were guys that got big money contracts from Beane and then flamed out, but of course none of them were drafted by Beane.

Hated the pick then and still do. He's at best a solid starter. For a top 10 pick that is not good enough. I will give a caveat to my post. He did have a bad ankle injury last year after starting the year well. Truly hope he can offer some inside pass rush. If he could get 8-10 sacks with 20 or so QB hurries he can make a big difference.

What's odd is he was pretty good the first month of the year and then was absolute garbage the remainder of the year.

The home field weather advantage has not been an advantage for 20+ years. Probably only helped when playing LA Raiders and Dolphins in the playoffs during the SB years. We are an elite passing offense. Josh doesn't play well in the rain. Does any qb? Cold is not an issue. Its the rain and wind they have had to play in multiple times the last few years. Add the fact we get a ton of players from the SEC who never played in the cold. Its no advantage.