Beck Water

Very interesting. I don't doubt that it's true there's a small "circle of trust" - but there are a couple of points. One is that the 2021 Patriots already had 9 offensive assistants on the payroll, already in the building. None of them had been developed to a point where they could take over? The other is, why is this a concern? Is that stuff still going on? I think Belichick had an attack of hubris and wanted to give his former DC and ST coaches a chance to build their resumes coaching offense. Andy Reid did something similar (which worked similarly poorly) at DC after he fired McDermott. He promoted Juan Castillo from OL coach to DC. How hard could it be?

No one knows. For all the prognostication, we know 2 things: 1. GMs invariably grade differently than media pundits, resulting in different draft selection order 2. GMs usually do their best to camoflage their actual intentions. When their positional intentions are known they try to camoflage their board Though I will say I seem to recall folks being pretty certain the Bills would draft a CB in the 1st last year, and that Elam would be their choice at CB

The point is, fans of a team on message boards are NOT a good barometer for "what the NFL thinks" of a player. If they were - Edmunds would never have gotten that $18M/yr contract I don't think that point is lessened by being applied to a lower-tier FA vs. a top tier - fans will crush a guy even when he gets paid as a legit top player, so they'll crush even harder when a guy is at a lower tier. And no, I have not seen those disclaimers, but you're welcome to find 'em and link 'em here if you want to demonstrate your own point.

So, one reason I brought up Neal is that pre-draft, he was way faster - 4.47s 40 Not that I think "Pajama Time" is the be-all and end-all metric some seem to think it is - LB and DBs around the league have been learning for years now that Josh Allen plays much faster than his 4.75 40-time would suggest. On the other hand, Neal was legit faster than Rapp, a 2nd round pick. Neal was a small school, small conference college player (SIU) who likely legit needed a couple years to adjust to the NFL game. Well, that's the question - should the Bills want to talk to him? In the talking, it's the Bills job to make a case for where he fits, if they're interested. The Bills are sort of the Safety equivalent of Schroedinger's Cat, we may or may not have a crying need on the roster THIS season, depending upon whether Hamlin returns and how Hyde and Poyer have recovered from injuries/how healthy they can stay.

Last year the league minimum for a player with 6 credited seasons was $1.035M Last year Shaq Lawson's contract with the Bills was for $1.035M with a $152k signing bonus And in fact, he only counted $1.047 against the Bills cap instead of $1.187M (salary plus bonus) a situation called "Vet Salary Benefit" where teams sign a vet but he only counts what a 2nd year player would count against their cap. So I'm not sure what's "idiotic" about thinking Lawson is a league minimum player, when in fact, last season, that's what he was. I think part of the question is to what extent Lawson is, indeed, a "good soldier" When a team makes a guy a substantial FA signing, then trades him out the door a year later, that's typically not the sign of a good soldier. Then when the trade partner trades him off for a late round pick before the season, that's also a sign something's amiss Then when the 3rd team cuts him just before the end of the season - That's a kick in the pants saying we'd rather elevate a PS guy then keep you in the building. He seems to do well on the Bills though. He's not the dominating player we hoped for when Rex drafted him in the 1st round in 2016, but he has football talent.

I mean, to listen to fans here Edmunds sucks, was always out of position or choosing the wrong gap. Guess Eberflus (who coached LB for the Cowboys for 8 yrs before becoming Colts DC then Bears HC) is just stupid about LB talent evaluation, relative to those fans. There are many positions on the Bills where I have what I think are legit questions about the Bills FO's ability to assess football talent. OL for example - Cody Ford was a total bust. It also seems pretty evident that the Bills are not geting great ROI on their DL. DB is not one of those positions.

Cherepinsky started Walter Football back in 1999 when he was literally living in his mom's basement (Sr in HS), then gave it his attention when he couldn't get a journalism job after he switched to that major his Sr year at Penn State. He built his site with Search Engine Optimization, not content and football knowledge. Now to his credit, 20 years later his site is still around and has legitimate football guys creating content there, but the origin of the site as "a dude seeking clicks" still lingers to some. I Hear You on Charlie Campbell.

That isn't what media folks have been saying about him (Rapp) and can cover as well as defend the run. Of course they could all be wrong.

It was the part about not counting against the salary cap which confused me. That would increase the market for veteran players FRFR

In KC, DHop might be their #1 WR but he would not be their #1 target. That's Kelce.

It may not have been about his play; it may have been about behavior in the locker room or meeting rooms or towards the coaches, or perceived effort. Consider: Shaq Lawson had a 3 year, $30M contract with the Fins, $21M fully guaranteed at signing, and they traded him after 1 year for a LB who was a disappointment to the Texans. I think Miami ate a bunch of $$ on that - $4M signing bonus, $2.5M roster bonus. But, they shed his $8.9M salary so you could be right that was a cap move. The Texans then took on Lawson's guaranteed salary and converted it to signing bonus in April, then traded him to the Jets for a 6th round pick before the season, thus eating his signing bonus. They clearly ate a bunch of $$ on that, and there's gotta be a reason. The Jets then cut him before the last game of the season. Who does that? You don't cut a guy before the final game of the season if it's "about cost". You're not saving that much $$. You're doing it to send a message to the LR. Agree he'll likely be getting a minimum contract here, but the OP was about re-signing him for what the Bills gave Phillips: $3M or $4.2M or whatever.

What is this? I am unfamiliar with a "VSB kicker" or Veteran Signing Bonus which does not count against the salary cap What I'm familiar with is called "Veteran Cap Benefit" or "Veteran Salary Benefit", in which a player with 4 or more credited seasons signs at vet minimum for those seasons, but only counts against the cap for the minimum salary of a 2nd year player, plus any bonuses. There is also a limit on the amount of bonuses that can be paid on such a contract, and the bonuses also count against the cap. On the Bills at present, Kyle Allen, Matt Barkley, and Ike Boettger appear to have such contracts. The way to tell is if their cap hit is less than their salary+bonus.

Poyer and Hyde are 32 years old. Poyer was gimping around with multiple injuries at the end of last season; Hyde feels great now, but he's recovering from neck surgery and until he's on the field giving and taking hits there will be a question in my mind, "can he still play?" Rapp is a legit NFL starting-capable backup, no question there. Good add. Hamlin played better, I thought, as his playing time increased. If he comes back at the same level, we're likely set save for a late round pick. But I felt he was a marginal starter before the whole cardiac episode. If he does come back will it be at the same level? Don't know. So do we need another guy? If Hamlin comes back and is playing at the same level probably not. If he comes back and is not playing at the same level, or doesn't come back, probably so. Mayden is a PS guy from the Eagles going into his 4th season without ever having started a game Zane Anderson is a special teamer who might be able to lay safety, we don't know. Neither of them are guys I want to see starting at safety. Lewis played some safety last season. I don't wanna see that again. YMMV.

I believe I read somewhere that Dawkin's brother (one of his brothers?) is a pro wrestler in Hawaii Maybe @Chandler#81 has sources that can track this down Confusingly, there's a wrestler who uses the stage name Angelo Dawkins, who is not related to Dawkins While Dawkins brother IIRC has a stage name that is totally different. Then again I can't find anything about this so maybe I dreamed it all. Gotta lay off the Dark n Stormys before bed

Oh, yeah, other teams can negotiate with Lamar all right - with the loss of 2 1st round picks like a pistol held to their heads LOL

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/36019987/seahawks-rescind-offer-restricted-free-agent-s-ryan-neal 6'2" or 6'3", ran a 4.47 40. Signed with Eagles then Falcons as UDFA, spent a year primarily as a PS member with the Seahawks Started 10 games for the Seahawks last season Other than the fact that this guy's contracts have been for the Birds, would he be worth a look as a player we could develop? He's 27

I could be wrong, but I think in Carolina the variations in McD's defense were more based upon how he used the personnel on the field, vs. switching up the personnel on the field. He did switch things up more his first year in Buffalo, but a lot of that was he didn't have the bodies he wanted - Preston Brown and Ramon Humber etc

? Ravens already franchise tagged Jackson. Non-exclusive franchise tag, $32.4M If he gets a deal from another team and the Ravens don't chose to match, that team hasta give the Ravens 2 1st round picks. Heh. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35776986/nfl-non-exclusive-franchise-tag-biggest-questions-ravens-lamar-jackson

I think McDermott dropped some breadcrumbs about that in a couple of his pressers. Basically he said something to the effect that you can have the same playbook and plan and it will still look different with two different coaches calling it. I don't think the fundamental scheme or the playbook will change, but I think way its implemented will look more different than some think. When you hire a guy, you can't micromanage him, and in general over the course of a season, McD was getting satisfactory results from Frazier's D so had no reason to micromange. I don't think the D was being called exactly how McDermott would have called it in various in-game situations, especially the first or second time we've faced an opponent or when the same opponent throws something we weren't expecting at us. I also feel that Frazier was philosophically slower to make in-game adjustments than McDermott is.

I haven't found one, but at present a modest ignore file of a dozen or so does wonders for being able to focus on football rather than inanity

There was a bunch of discussion on this in another thread when the move was announced. One of the best pieces on this was done by Cover1, looking back carefully at the defenses McDermott ran in Carolina. I don't know if you're going to see any changes in personnel, but the consensus thinking is that McDermott uses his personnel in a much more aggressive way, for example press man coverage and double A gap blitzes by the linebackers, more switching around on DL (having the DE play inside and blitz the A gaps for example) - always trying to figure out the protection rules a team uses and use those rules against them.

Why is it "fair" to pay Shaq like he's Jordan Phillips? After leaving the Bills and taking the big money in Miami, Lawson played himself off three different teams: Miami traded him to Houston, who traded him to the Jets, the Jets cut him before their final game of the season. I don't know the story there, but there has to be one. The bottom line is he didn't have a market last off season which is why he signed with the Bills for pretty close to vet minimum. Phillips, on the other hand and despite what some folks say here, must have a market, which is why the Bills paid him more last season and signed him earlier in the process this season. If his contract actually counts as $4.6M, he'd be the #10 FA DT signed this season. If his contract actually counts as $3M, he's #14. (For some reason he's listed as a DE, where he's #15) If he was healthy and had a history of staying healthier during the season, he might get more but he isn't and he doesn't. Same thing with Lawson: if he didn't have his history of doing whatever he did that made teams move on from him, he would get more, but he does have that history. My guess is that the Bills have a similar offer out to Shaq as they offered him last season, and he's waiting to sign it because he wants more, but so far no one is offering. You say you want to know the reasons, but I'd like to know the reasons why the Bills should give Shaq Lawson a Jordan Phillips size contract because he wants more? You also mention "keeping continuity on DL", but if the DL wasn't good enough last season, how can we improve it by keeping continuity? You can't improve things by keeping them the same!!!!

What, from Diggs? Doubt that

To be sure, there has to be an aspect where he must like to stir the pot. On the other hand, do you seriously think a nice little tweet crafted by his media team would end the speculation? My guess is it would be scrutinized for signs “methinks the laddie(sic) doth protest too much”.

Spencer Brown could be moved to swing tackle. I guess theoretically he could be moved to guard but he’d have to really work to get his pads low.