Beck Water

Fair points, but the Hopkins and Diggs contract situations are substantively different. The Texans will take on a $16M dead cap for an unsigned player next year. The Titans will take on $9.8M dead cap for an unsigned player next year. They are both "mortgaging the future/kicking the can down the road" contracts. The Bills do have a substantive cap hit for Samuel next year, but Samuel is under contract. You failed to address the other point, that Samuel is a more consistent, higher producing WR than McKenzie, so one would expect to allocate more resources. What do you think is the going rate for a vet #3 receiver who has been consistently productive in the 50+ reception/yr, 600 yd/yr range? It's true he's not a "top tier outside WR". Who was available that you wanted the Bills to sign?

I've seen this number before (maybe from you?) and let it go, but at this point it seems worth correcting. The Bills are NOT putting $8M into the Crowder/McKenzie role in this cap-strapped year. As always when something like an "$8M average" contract is announced, we have to look at the fine print. Curtis Samuel's cap hit for the Bills this year is $3.4M: salary of $1.2M, amortized signing bonus of $1.725M. That doesn't seem excessive, given that he has actually proven on the football field that he can gain yards from the backfield and play outside, two things McKenzie could not. Except for the year he was injured, Samuel has been a pretty reliable 650 yd/season Comparison (both played from 2017-2023; Samuel's total is depressed by including an IR'd year.

Seriously? I'm in the US. Can't say I agree.

There is only one thing to say in response:

Thank you for posting I got to say, it's one of the weirdest things to me - this guy Dunne writes a paywalled story of an interview with Beane and then gets interviewed about his interview for weeks. Like interviewing "news" is enough to make you a desireable interview

If Rodgers goes down and Taylor gets hurt, what are their alternatives?

Beane seems to be making it pretty clear they're counting on Kincaid for Josh to become Greg Olsen to Cam ("I looked at the rules; it's legal to pass to a TE"). And when the Panthers went to the Superbowl with Newton, Olsen was their leading receiver. Behind him they had a 30-yr old Ted Ginn, 33 yr old Jericho Cotchery, and a rookie Devin Funchess. That said, I agree with your overall point that the Bills WR room is made up of insufficient WR parts, and not enough investment has been made there

I doubt it on the "price of keeping quiet" I believe after the initial shock wore off and the season ended, McD probably did drill into the piece, not as a "report card" but in the principle of continuous improvement I do think one issue raised by McD might have been "if you're writing about me, why not ask me for an interview?" to which Dunne's answer would be "I'm not credentialed and have no access". Then McD/Beane might offer to trade some 1:1 access for Dunne agreeing to reach out for their take before writing another such piece. Agree I think this is a key quote: Anyone have any doubts that Beane is talking about Diggs here? Because back-to-back playoffs, he did disappear.

I dunno about Beane holding a grudge. I think it's more along the lines of "fool me once, Shame on You; fool me twice, Shame on Me".

I would go further: the scenario he presented was contradicted by statements inside OBD There were quotes in the article which were directly refuted by current players at the time. For example, one of the most damning quotes was that McDermott didn't have strong personal relationships with players because he's psychologically and mentally incapable of it (or words to that effect). Another said he didn't have a relationship with a "single offensive player" Morse in the press gave an anecdote where in 2020 he had been injured (concussed?) and missed a game, then was a healthy scratch the next week and his starting going forward was in the air. He said he was suffering from anxiety. McDermott called him into his office, and told him, whatever the game decision is, look at who you are as a man and a father. You are so much more than football. And other words of wisdom. He said it was what he needed to hear in the moment and he'd never forget it. Allen has gone to bat for McDermott, saying he talks to him every week and his relationship with McDermott has never been better. One of the players quoted in the article by name, Isaiah McKenzie, who butted heads with McDermott and was benched by McDermott several times, had positive things to say. In one of his "Isaiah McKenzie Show" segments with Dunne, he was asked if he were in trouble, who would be harder to talk with, McDermott or Beane, and he said McDermott, explaining, "talking to McDermott would be like talking to your Father. He'd be like "I raised you better than that!". These are not offensive players who have no relationship with McDermott or descriptions of a man who is "psychologically and mentally incapable" of personal relationships.

I doubt it rankles McDermott that Beane talked to Dunne. In the interview piece someone linked, Dunne actually says he had several meetings with McDermott at one of the pre-draft events - think he said Combine - and "it was really positive" or words to that effect. Dunne sounded a little surprised by that, but I'm not. I think McDermott has probably moved past it, turned around, assessed it calmly, shaken whatever learnings for continuous improvement he can out of it, and let go of the rest. Why wouldn't he? Beane, Josh Allen, Ed Oliver, and others came out 100% as "we got your back, Coach" and then, the team "walked the walk" by winning the next 6 games despite devastating injuries. That served as a giant, living, raspberry to Dunne. McDermott, by other accounts, really does live by the "growth mindset" and "continuous improvement" he preaches. In Tim Graham's article about him, he interviews players and coaches who explained that the day after McDermott was fired by Andy Reid (which had to have been far more devastating than Dunne's article), he was on the phone talking to people about what went wrong and what he should do better going forward. It wouldn't surprise me if one of the topics of discussion between Dunne and McDermott was "if you're writing an article about me, why woudn't you talk to me as part of it?" in which case Dunne's response would be that since leaving TBN then Bleacher Report to go out on his own, he isn't credentialed by the Bills and has been denied access. That would set the stage for Beane and McDermott to gain some influence over the narrative by promising him an interview or interviews in exchange for Dunne talking to them about future articles.

I don't think it's an "either/or" on Samuel vs. "outside WR". They needed to replace Cole Beasley; Crowder/McKenzie were not adequate in 2022. And, they knew Gabe Davis had priced himself out of what they were able/willing to pay, so they needed to replace him too. We needed Samuel, and we needed someone with Davis skillset, while we had Diggs on the team. Once we traded him, we needed all 3. Time will tell

Not really, or at best "hard to tell" Crowder was injured in Game 4 (Ravens) We were "bombs away" against the Steelers, but that was because it was working. Next up, KC, which was a masterpiece of passing dissection. The Packers game was weird. In the 2nd half, Allen behaved as though it was his destiny to throw long bombs to covered receivers, and the ball did not appear to be going where he wanted it to go - I don't believe he was trying to dirt that Alexander pick. He may have been concussed, or he may have gotten an initial hit on part of his throwing apparatus - there was a rumor he'd injured something Then we have the Jets game, where he injured his UCL. So you basically have a 3-ish game sample size, in one of which the short/intermediate game was very much alive. I agree with you that was probably the high-level plan. I think the end of the season and playoffs may have shifted the balance some - pretty clear Josh and Diggs were NOT on the same page, Diggs was not productive in the playoff and for a team that keeps falling short in the playoffs "are you productive in the playoffs?" seems a reasonable metric. I think @BarleyNY posted that there were rumors the Bills were shopping Diggs at the Sr Bowl/Combine, but not getting the return they wanted. One of the pundits who is generally pretty well connected said that the Diggs trade was like "Make Me Move!" on Zillow - at that point, the Bills had decided they weren't going to get the return they wanted and they'd go through another season with him, but they'd given Diggs agent permission to seek a trade acceptable to the Bills, and the Texans came up with a 2nd rounder albeit next years.

Agreed. For example, the Bills lost 6 games: all were 1 score games (one would have required a TD and 2 pt conversion). 2 were OT. The Rams lost 7 games; 5 were 1 score games, 1 in OT; only 1 was a blowout. I think the strategy is different when the teams are close I think Rodgers is actually a very intelligent man. But I think intelligence is often like the human neuronal equivalent of Kudzu: it requires regular, vigorous pruning and checking to keep it under control and in balance.

Given the timing (3 weeks after Dorsey was "relieved of his duties" as OC) and the comments from some other journalists with a lot of internal access to the Bills (John Wawrow: "former employee has issues with former boss" "I'm gonna sit this one out"), I don't think we need a deathbed confession to deduce that one of the juicest interviewees was Dorsey.

Hello. Anonymous sources can't be vetted in any of these ways. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

This ought to be right up there with "retatta" and Peter Pan as a TBD classic

My goodness, for a chap who led off with "Firstly I do not wish to debate on this" you sure are rolling along. I've contributed what was said about it at the time, believe it or don't

The point here, was that if Araiza were crlminally charged, that would be considered to be conduct affecting the NFL because it occurred while he was an NFL player under contract. It's not my statements that are the issue, it's the NFL/NFLPA CBA and how it was interpreted at the time, which you didn't recall or research.

That's because you need to look at the initial language in the CBA framing the applicability.

Again, see my post above - according to the terms of the CBA, the NFL could not place him on administrative leave for actions that took place before he signed a contract with the NFL

It would NOT be applicable to the Araiza case. This was discussed and clarified at the time. The NFLPA/NFL CBA specifically PROHIBITS the NFL from disciplining a player for actions that took place prior to his joining the NFL. Once a player signs a contract, the NFL personal conduct policy clearly applies. While a player participates in the pre-draft process (Senior Bowl, Combine, Team Visits etc) it's a grey area - there may be some documents the player signs. But while the player is in college, before he signs a contract and before the pre-draft process, it's unambiguous: the NFL can NOT discipline the player, including placing him on the "Commissioner's Exempt List" aka "Paid Administrative Leave" aka "Leave With Pay" The NFL was very clear with the Bills that they would NOT place Araiza on the commissioner's exempt list and grant the Bills a roster exemption for him, unless he were criminally charged (which would be considered to have occurred during his employment with the NFL, even for actions that took place earlier) Again, this was all discussed at the time. It's growing very wearisome to have all these people making posts about debatable ***** and saying "I do not wish to debate this" The issue isn't the nature of the allegations or the outrage, it's when the alleged behavior took place - during the Fall, well before Araiza became an NFL player and subject to the Personal Conduct Policy

Exactly. If the Chiefs are punting against other teams a lot, especially against the Bills, that's a Good Thing. And if they got a guy who booms it 70 yds every kick and he punts from the 35 yd line and we get a touchback, or he punts it right at our returner, again, Good Things. Bonus if he has trouble holding for FG when it's nasty weather The preseason he was with the Bills, I believe you would class his holding skills as "progressing" Now in his time out of football, it's entirely possible he's developed and improved in all aspects - having "touch" on his punts, directional punting, and holding.

In the NFL, the punter does have to hold for FG, which Araiza didn't do in college Also as I recall, on the Bills, he was crushing it deep. But that's not always what's wanted in the NFL. Sometimes you want a guy who can kick directionally or short. Maybe he's gotten better at that.

I believe the person who referred to it as a "hit piece" was Sean McDermott And yes, a heavily-sourced article can be a "hit piece", surely you know this? It's done by selectively including quotes which support your thesis bracketed by slanted or emotionally loaded writing, omitting or downplaying quotes that don't support it, and choosing your sources.