Beck Water

Regarding the Patriots: The NFL is a year to year league. I think the Patriots next season are not going to be a last-place team. Unless he's changed, I think Vrabel is solid as a coach. He brings discipline. He does thorough game prep for opponents and plans well to exploit the tendencies he sees. I don't know how good they'll be. I think Drake Maye has a lot of potential. I'm skeptical of Josh McDaniel as an offensive coordinator. There are some QB where he seems to bring out the best, and there are some QB where it seems as though they just can't execute his offense, though they can function adequately or even well under other OCs. Regarding Diggs: By the end of his last year in Buffalo, Greg Cosell (who watches A LOT of film) was saying that Diggs at that point no longer had the physical abilities of a #1 WR in the NFL. Maybe he was; the issue with Diggs in Buffalo his last 2 years here seemed to be fading down the stretch and disappearing in the playoffs. I think it's not uncommon as a player gets older, he can still play and come into the season strong, but it's harder to maintain a high level throughout the full season as the dings and dents mount up. That's the pattern the Bills saw in 2022 and 2023: a strong start to the season with multiple 100 yd games through wk 8 or 9, then falling off a cliff. Certainly the Texans didn't trade for Diggs and then re-negotiate his contract to shorten it and pay him more because they agreed with Cosell. But they lost their gamble when Diggs went out with the ACL after Week 8, so we'll never know if he would have done the same "falling off a cliff" move in a full season with them. I don't think Diggs is gonna be ready to play until the middle of the season. It'll be interesting to see how he goes.

I don't see it stickied. If you don't want to talk about it, why are you here? I agree with you, I don't see the team that paid $30M to NOT have Diggs on the team inviting him back.

Bad analogy. Fat Kelvin's "get up and go" had got up and went during his time here. I see no evidence that Cooper didn't try hard. We didn't get production out of him, but it's not because he was phoning it in the way Benjamin did.

No, they're saying there are 169 CBs in the league who are paid better than Benford. Which, given that Benford is playing on his rookie contract and was drafted in the 6th round, is not exactly a shock.

I agree with your perception, but Rapp was still the one who launched into Douglas during the Rams game, taking him out/injuring him AND leaving Kupp to catch the tuddy. That was last season, early Dec. He did, but I think he went from awful to poor on this point. In addition to taking out Douglas, I believe he was involved in the back/rib injury that cost Hamlin 3 games.

I don't think he's cooked. He was playing hurt towards the end of last season - missed 2 games with a knee, and probably had back/side bruising too courtesy of "friendly fire" from Taylor Rapp. But, he's gonna be 30 at the start of next season, which is getting long in the tooth for a CB. I suspect the Bills would like him back on a 1 year contract and may well have a tentative offer on the table, but Douglas is likely hoping for a multi year deal.

I like some of the film clips people have put up. Of course it's highlights but he's clearly not afraid to bring the lumber, which is what made me wince every time someone suggested maybe we could convert Elam to safety. If only we can persuade Rapp to limit his hitting to guys wearing the other uniform. (I actually had the same 'that looks a bit like a young Poyer' thought)

Fair.

To me, he's kind of like this year's Chase Claypool without the history of public toxic behavior. He was one of Seattle's primary KR last season and they cut him in early December - I think it was after he muffed one kickoff but recovered on the 12 yard line, then fumbled on another resulting in a turnover against the Jets.

He was injured last season. Previous 3 seasons he missed one (1) game. Neck injury, though. Hard to tell what that means to a guy whose job is to hit people every snap

Didn't know the shoulder injury was why he lost the starting job - thanks for the insight Thing is, he didn't earn it back in 2024, and reverted to being primarily a STer. Any insight as to why?

I grant that as draft capital you're correct, but as compensation for a former 1st round pick: I said what I said. 34 spots in the draft is helpful, but as compensation for a 1st round pick (and recall, Elam's original cost was a 1st AND a 4th round because we traded up) ....it's next door to free.

I think we have a bigger need at DT than Hoechst will fill. [Edit: just saw we signed Ogunjobi, that's a big step in the right direction] The Bills did re-sign Hamlin. Just a 1 year deal, but to me that says they're not all-in on Bishop as a starter yet. I think the Bills and Benford/Cook are far apart on salary. I think Beane will wait until after the draft on that. CB is a huge hole to me with Douglas a FA.

My assessment, though he did start some games in his 2nd and 3rd years.

Shaw, you make some good points, and certainly "find the QB" is Job #1 for a good GM. As far as 1st and 2nd round draft picks, there are a couple of things to consider. In another post, I put up that going by pro-football-ref wAV and using a rather permissive cutoff, roughly 1/3 of the 1st round draft picks from 2016 to 2021 were 'busts' - not decent, starting quality football players. (whether wAV is a good criteria or not can be debated, but as an objective metric, I'd say it's as decent as any). The probability is strikingly different at the top of the 1st round, and strikingly lower towards the bottom of the 1st round. The Bills have been drafting near the bottom of the 1st round since 2020, when, btw, they swung for the fences by sending their 1st round pick to Minn for Diggs - not a FA, but not consistent with the "talent comes in the draft" strategy. How do teams cope with that? This is kind of a trick question, but if you look at the 1st round picks of other teams who have had sustained success, what is their GM's record with 1st round picks? Pick 2 or 3 teams. My perception is that Beane's strategy to cope with drafting consistently at the bottom of the 1st, has been to "swing for the fences" by choosing high-ceiling, low-floor players. That means sometimes choosing guys who are rated as having the physical talent to succeed in the NFL, but are missing something on their resume - they came from a smaller school and played against lower competition OR they just didn't have a lot of playing experience OR there are questions about how the scheme they played in would translate to the NFL. They fell to the bottom of the 1st because there's a legit questionmark about their ability to transition to the NFL. Rousseau certainly falls into that category - he simply hadn't played a lot of games at the point where the Bills drafted him. He seems to be a good player now, but despite starting 17 games his rookie season, it took him a minute.