Beck Water

I could be mistaken, I often am...but I think Mike White may look better when throwing to Waddle and Hill in the Dolphins offense than he did passing to Garrett Wilson and Tyler Conklin in Mike LaFleur's offense. How have they "closed the gap" judging by games played last year? Their record was 9-8. 5 straight losses, including 4 with Tua.

They don't need to look at Klein. McDermott knows what Klein's strengths and limitations are in great detail.

In emergency. They are going to look at Brandon Shell first, I would guess. Gouraige might get a look, as might Edwards. It's not that Bates couldn't play RT in an emergency, but he's one snap away from going in at C and if he doesn't start the season at RG, one snap away from going in at G. They want to go into the season with an RT who isn't their backup C, is my guess. Shell has started 72 games at RT for NYJ, SEA, and MIA, including 11 last season and 10 the previous season. That makes him this year's "Daryl Williams/Ty Nsekhe Plan B" at RT IMHO.

I totally agree with that second part. I also agree that it's difficult to sort what eye-witnesses are reporting from camp, because they aren't reporting the whole thing. Case in point: On Tues, most people reporting from camp assess that the defense won the day with 6 "sacks" on 25 dropbacks. But Joe Buscaglia, who is nothing if not methodical, reported that despite the "sacks" and PBU, Josh was something like 19 of 25 for hitting the player he targeted in passing. And that gives a different impression of the day: yeah, the offense struggled but they were getting their shots in too.

I don't disagree that one play shouldn't define him. I think people are more reacting to the combination of that play, along with some reported struggles he seems to be having in camp. And I'm more reacting to the description in your previous post "he made the catch but on the impact the ball slightly moved and as he rolled after hitting the ground the tip of the ball touched the turf". It seems pretty clear in the replay that he never made a clean catch with both hands on the ball or a hand and his body demonstrating control - it was between his arms and his body which is why it was overturned, not because "he made the catch but on impact the ball slightly moved and the tip of the ball touched". If the receiver has control of the ball with his hands, it's not supposed to matter if the ball moves a little or part of it touches the ground.

I agree that I would have liked to see the team make more of an off-season move at WR, and I am uncertain about the ROI we'll get from Harty given his obvious talent, but also his obvious size and injury history. Honestly, though, it was not a great year for FA WR. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/all/wide-receiver/all/

It's worth noting that when Edwards arrived, he made a point that Kromer in LA tried the OLmen at every position but C. He played behind a very good RT in LA. But, a lot of G played RT in college and are IOL in the league. It will be "up to" Kromer to assess which of Edwards, Shell (who has started 72 games at RT in the league) or maybe Gouraige is 'next man up'. Tough circumstance for Brown, though. Back injuries in a big OLman are hard to return from and reach potential. Can we agree on the point that if it's ambiguous that different people see it differently, it's not a cold hard facts and logic thing?

Except if we're talking about that drop in the Miami game, from the replay it wasn't a clean catch. it was a difficult catch, but his hands weren't in the right place and it kind of seemed he wasn't "looking it in". So the cold hard facts and logic kinda go the other way.

OK! Someone with an answer! And it's a fair one from the point of view that they've been their team's #1 receiver last year or close due to injuries, which changes how they're seen. So I don't think those teams are taking that deal, but the point is valid that they're one of two very high quality receivers on their team. Sure - if they'd trade them, I'd go for that. So kudos for a plausible answer.

Yeah, that was a clear drop. He never caught it cleanly, he bodied it.

Are you at TC or did you see a replay of this somewhere? Linky if the latter. More news, please, if the former. If it's as you described, that's very very tough and sounds like it should have been a catch. I don't think "the tip of the ball touched the ground" should overturn unless it is clear that happened first, before he got his hands on it. If it just touched the ground as he rolled, that should be a catch.

OK. Barring Tee Higgins, DeVanta Parker, Jaylen Waddle, and maybe Tyler Lockett, who you want to trade him for, straight up? Don't say OBJ or DeAndre Hopkins, we'll see about them. Someone who was more productive LAST YEAR in terms of receiving yards/game and had a better catch % than Davis.

Fair. So it was a reaction to a general turd-ness on his part and not that specific post?

This does NOT sound good. Especially not already, in pre-season.

That's a shallow take. JAG with no redeeming qualities don't collect 200 yds on 8 receptions in a playoff game vs KC or even 85 on 4 (but all critical, high DOD shoestrings) The issue with Gabe is that his play shows a very high ceiling, but it's inconsistent.

The Bills expect all their WR and TE to block, if nothing else downfield or on bubble screens. One reason we struggled with those is that Beasley didn't (well), and his first couple years Knox wasn't so good at them either. Kincaid needs to learn to block. Doesn't mean the Bills will be using him in-line as a 6th OLman, but he needs to be able to block, it's part of the job.

He's not wrong though. Josh was forcing in those throws to Davis last season, resulting in Davis leading the league in INT per target on throws to him He had 6, and he's the only WR with less than 100 targets and that many INT on throws to him. There might be one or two of those Davis should have come back for or contested more aggressively, but mostly they're Josh's fault, and he needs to change what he's seeing/doing a bit.

And this is where we sit with Shakir. He's not a bad player, but depending upon him as our #3 (just like depending upon Davis as our #2) puts the Bills at a stark disadvantage at WR vs a handful of teams with 2 or even 3 top WR. The only guy on the team last season who could consistently make that "ooohs" and "aaaahs" catch was Diggs. Hopefully Kincaid joins him.

I heard he's been playing with the 1st and sometimes 2nds and scarcely coming off for a sip of water. They seem to be pushing to get him all the reps they safely can (and maybe more than, though Rochester is a relatively good environment for moderate heat/humidity

The thing about a guy like Ray, is that to my understanding NFL practice squad guys make more than CFL starters. So he can possibly be stashed on the practice squad in case of injury, and he would be benefiting financially while working for a chance.

This Buffalo Rumblings guy is lighting it up.

If you're wondering how many snaps during games he's actually missed, this information is readily available at sites like https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/buf/2022.htm

The point is, he started as the backup WLB last season, and if he doesn't win, he's at least the backup MLB. Or maybe backing up both. And maybe he'll put on some beef and win the job next season. Or maybe he won't. But the team won't hit the shot they don't take.

That's a good sign, but it's also not a good sign that it's worthy of remark.