FireChans

Worthy having the fastest 40 time is giving me John Ross flashbacks.

@HappyDays has told me that we faced one of the higher percentages of man defense in the NFL in 2023, and while he can be wrong, he wouldn’t lie.

Because I was talking about Keon Coleman. You kinda jumped in the conversation for some weird “gotcha” attempt about Ladd ***** McConkey. I want an outside WR that has elite speed and can stretch the field and dictate zone coverages. Not a contested catch guy. Not an inside WR. Keon Coleman is not that guy, imo. Ladd McConkey is also not that guy, imo, your love affair with him notwithstanding. Happy?

and I’m not sure he can play outside. So it’s not a contradiction, because I also want a guy that I think can play outside.

Questions if he can play outside is not everything I’m looking for lmao

No

I think Coleman can get open. Imo he doesn’t separate like some of the other guys do. I want a guy whose skill is “running away from the guys who can’t catch him.” Mike Williams has been productive, just like Coleman will probably be. Strategically, it’s not for me. Coleman getting half a step on NFL DB’s is not what I want for our offense. That’s Gabe Davis-ball, and that’s why Josh threw so many picks his way. I don’t see Coleman being a window-opener. I see him as more of the same tight window throws that all it takes is a pass a little behind or a faster DB to make a play and it’s going the other way or getting tipped.

I think the Mike Williams contested-catch type is not the type to bank on, personally. Give me a guy that demands safety rotations. That can turn the corner on jet sweeps and dump offs and WR screens, and can take it 50 yards if the rest of the defense has their back turned to them. A serious RAC weapon is going to transform the offense and turn the rest of the offense into pitch and catch.

They all lie about their heights and weights. Everyone shrinks.

Old and slow to replace old and slow. No thanks.

I am extremely sick of WR’s that can’t separate. Coleman may be a great player. I think he’s a nice prospect. But he isn’t going to demand teams get out of man coverage. He’s going to beat man sometimes when “nobody’s open.” But teams will still run a lot of man. I want a WR2 who dictates zone that opens up Kincaid and Shakir.

We want them to eat into Diggs targets. Because he was one of the least inefficient high volume WR’s for 10 weeks..

Beasley was the #2 target getter because he was always our second best available target. I like Shakir a lot, but I don’t want him being our second best target on the roster. If he is, Kincaid and the future boundary WR we draft didn’t really work out.

Slot in 3 WR sets. Part time boundary WR in bunch sets and/or in case of emergency only. Competing to be the #3 target.

I had fun last year and it brought me nothing but pain. I won’t get hurt again.

It sucks, but I would rather walk from Douglas than extend him at a less than palatable number going forward. That trade probably saved the season last year. That alone made it worth it.

Oliver had a great regular season. Oliver also has the same amount of postseason sacks in his career as Boogie Basham.

You know what, fair enough. i would argue that that’s a bad long-term strategy, but if you are gonna put your hopes on a lotto ticket, a late round RB is the position I’d bet on.

So why can't we draft an RB1 in two years, and bring in a vet that has proven to be able to pass-pro to do spot duty at the same time..... like we just did for James Cook? Do you grasp that you are wasting 2 years of a "cost-controlled" contract on the position that, by NFL contract standards, is already the most cost-controlled ever?

Agreed, which is why I'd rather draft a developmental OL prospect over a running back in round 6. Disagree. HARD disagree. A lot of young RB's struggle with things as simple as pass-pro which, more than anything, keeps them off the field. Even still, they are THE MOST PLUG AND PLAY position in modern football. Let's keep this Bills-centric. Why do the Bills need a cheap, cost-controlled back for 4 seasons that we are most certainly not going to pay when their contract is up, even if they are the best RB in football, when we have James Cook for 2 more? At best, they have a handful of carries a game (that we've established could be equaled by virtually 60+ RB's in the NFL) for the next two years. You're paying them ~900k to ~1M during this time. And they cost you a 6th round pick. The opportunity cost of that alone makes no sense. I'd much rather have some big fat raw 6th round OT riding the pine and seeing spot duty/developing and let an Antonio Gibson eat up those carries for a league average or close YPC. It ain't that hard to learn a system for an RB. If we look at this from another perspective, let's try to assign a numerical value for later round draft picks. Is a 6th round pick worth, say $500k? Probably worth more than that, I'd say. Is it worth $2M+? I'd say no, but probably in the $1M+ range. But the difference in cheap productive NFL vet RB's contract and a 6th round RB contract is going to be ~$500k. The 32nd G in the NFL makes ~$4M. The 32nd RB makes $2.2M The 50th G in the NFL makes $2.3M. The 50th RB makes $1.3M And if we look at OT's, the discrepancy is even worse. The 75th highest paid OT in the NFL makes $1.9M. The math doesn't make sense. It makes infinitely more sense to draft a player at a position that: 1. Actually needs to time to develop (of which RB is the opposite) 2. Juice is worth the squeeze from a contract salary standpoint (of which RB is the opposite) If you wanna say bring in UDFA's only, I'm all for it. But draft picks? Nah

McD knew what he had in Dodson, which is why he spelled him heavily with a S in Poyer/Rapp playing a hybrid role to keep him out of coverage. Like Dodson a lot and as an UDFA you can’t help but root for his success, but the dude cannot cover.

Why? I feel like you’re not understanding what I’m saying. Why would you draft an RB in the sixth round who will likely suck, and probably has a 10-20% chance to be a JAG at the NFL level over signing an Antonio Gibson-level FA who has rushed for 1k yards in the NFL at one point on a 1 year $1.5M deal? What is the benefit?

Thurman Thomas could’ve outran Ekeler last season. Great player in his day, but his time has come.

And those guys aren’t getting paid. That’s the whole point. Why draft an RB in the 6th round who MIGHT be modestly productive (and more likely not be NFL caliber), when you can sign a PRODUCTIVE 5th year RB who gets paid very little and has proven to be NFL quality? What you guys seem to not be grasping is that it used to be “don’t draft an RB high, they aren’t worth that.” That was the right line of thinking but it didn’t go far enough. The reality is, “why draft them at all when I can pay a dude who put up 15 rushing TD’s $1.7M and use the draft pick on a more valuable position?” Like I said, everyone seems to like this Ty Johnson dude. He’s gonna cost us what? $1Mish? He’s gonna probably have a better career than 90% of the RB’s drafted after round 5, right? Why would we waste a draft pick there at all? WR’s may need some grooming before being ready, like a Shakir. Buts that a position worth investing that time in. You should literally only draft an RB if you don’t have one on the roster. We don’t need to draft a James Cook replacement until he walks in FA. Find the next Latty Murray and Ty Johnson and Damien Williams and pay them no money.

I addressed that. Third paragraph. For every Isaiah Pacheco, there’s a Kevin Harris, Tyler Badie, Keontay Ingram, Trestan Ebner, Brittaij Brown, or Zander Hovarth. Hell, this Ty Johnson cat everyone seems to love all of the sudden was a 6th rounder for the Lions. Was he a good pick for them? Was the value there? On his third team in 4 years and has never had more than ~60 carries. Of course not.