Beck Water

They expect more out of Hines than ST contributions. They are paying him more than they ever paid Andre Roberts Question: when has one of these media pundits EVER been right about our draft picks?

I don't think that's how even Allen thinks. There might be some thinking like "gotta make a play, gotta make a play, Diggs doubled, don't like that shot to Knox, Dirty might get 4 yds, there's a hole goGoGO!" Then once he's going, he doesn't think "got the 1st SLIDE" he thinks "gotta get the most yards that I can"

I agree IIRC Jefferson's first two years under Zimmer and the Kubiaks, the Vikes offense was built around running the ball to set up the pass, and throwing it deep to Jefferson. I'm oversimplifying, obviously, but Jefferson had 15.9 and 15.0 yds/reception, top-10 in the league. Jefferson is very good at those routes and elite at tracking the ball and clinching the deal. But this past year, he started playing all the receiver positions including from the slot. Anyway, as you say, no guarantee that either Jefferson or Allen would have developed the same way if he were in B'lo. The accurate deep ball was NOT one of Allen's strengths in his first 2-3 years.

This is actually the reason I posted a look-back to 2017, when the Bills managed to field, not a great, but a middle-of-the-road defense with Preston Brown and Ramon Humber as their LB. Yeah, probably worth pointing out that Josh Allen ran what, a 4.76 40 time? But most players would, I think, tell you he plays faster than that time. Allen himself joked that he runs faster when people are trying to catch him and clobber him. Anyway, pajama Time is one thing, playing speed in cleats and pads is another.

That could be so, although, he was "mad bombing" it a bit during the Jets game, before the injury, and dirting balls in the 2nd half of the Vikes game. There was some speculation he dinged something, shoulder or elbow, in the late 2 Q of the GB game, possibly on his 6 yd run in the Red Zone 2nd to last drive. Notable that Allen was 11-8 (73%) with 2 TD, no INT in the first half, and 14-5 (36%) with 2 picks and a couple of dirt balls in the 2nd half. Was then 18/24 next week in the Jets game (53%) with 2 INTs. Pretty big plummet in his completion % those 2 games.

Draft. There are pages describing WR and TE draft prospects who might work Beane has also said the Bills haven't closed the door on OBJ

I have the impression (from the flyer taken on OJ Howard) that Dorsey would like to use 2 TE sets. So if he's a solid 1st round pick who is ready to at least function as an NFL WR as he learns the rest of his job, I'd be for it.

What do you think about Jordan Addison? Greg Cosell named him as a WR he thought might be there who would fit the Bills needs

OK, I misinterpreted "A little harder for the skeptics to paint this as a mirage speculated on the basis of IG posts and pseudo-NFL Insiders on Twitter." Nothing pseudo about Rapaport, but still speculation and conjecture.

That's how I see it. When we traded for Diggs, several posters here critiqued the deal saying that it's not just "we traded a first and stuff for Diggs, a great WR, and the Vikes got Jefferson in the first, so we both won". The Vikes got a great player on a cost-controlled rookie deal while we got a great older player for whom we had to pay a fat contract. I still think the deal was a good one: the Bills got a savvy vet who could help Allen develop and help raise the level of the WR room; the Vikes got a youngster who could learn to do things as their savvy vet QB wanted them done. But that's not where we are now. If the Bills are going to sustain success, they have to get production from cost-controlled drafted players.

I see your point, but I also think it's "reading the tea leaves" to see that tweet as singling out the Bills.

Or, maybe some team with a young QB (or a capable QB with minimal weapons) and big cap space will pay something closer to it. The Bears have more cap space than they know what to do with, for example, and a young QB who could use a savvy vet WR who can catch anything flung in his general direction. They have extra draft picks after trading their first to the Panthers. The Panthers have 2nd most cap space, made it clear they're taking a QB who could benefit from a savvy vet WR, and they still have their own 2nd and 4th round picks as well as the 3rd and 4th rounder they got from SF in the McCaffrey trade. The Lions have they 3rd most cap space. They are going into Dan Campbell's 3rd year, have Goff under a manageable contract for 2 more years, and lost 5 games by 3 or 4 points. They may feel the clock is ticking for them, and feel like adding a second top WR to Amon-Ra St Brown would put them over the top and flip those games, giving them 13-4 or 14-3. They have the 3rd most free cap space and 8 draft picks, 4 in the first 2 rounds so they're well-positioned to trade a 2nd round pick without hurting their board. Good NFL WR can be arrogant. They feel that they can make catches and yards with anyone throwing to them - Tyreek Hill saying to a reporter "I could make yards with you throwing to me." My sense of DHop is that's something he would say. So it's probably more important to Hopkins to go to a team that can pay him, than it is for him to go to a team that has one of the best QB in the league. See above - I made a case for 3 teams with a buttload of cap space.

To my point about Allen playing as though the "governor" were off his Ferrari - Allen had gotten markedly better about taking the checkdowns in 2020 and even better in 2021. And even last season, he had games where he methodically moved the ball down the field - the loss at Miami, the win at KC. Last season, he mysteriously stopped taking those chain moving throws AND started running like a maniac again. The $93.7M question for Allen, Dorsey, and McDermott is how to reverse that trajectory.

His point is: if the board is flooded with it, by definition it is NOT an unpopular opinion.

I'm sure, but I searched the thread for what I thought to be likely keywords and couldn't find it.

I musta missed the actual news about AZ's price. Is that what they want? The 49ers took a lot of criticism for giving up essentially the heart of their draft board this year (2nd 3rd and 4th) plus a late pick (5th) next year. But, they got a 26 yr old player under contract for 4 years, with a minor salary in 2023 and a reasonable $12M/yr going forward. And, he was a true difference maker. To ask that for a 31 yr old player who gets $19.5M this year and $14.9M next, for a guy who only played 19 of 34 games last two seasons, ended 2021 with an MCL injury, took PEDs and was suspended 6 games in the healing process, and reportedly missed the last two games of 2022 because he "tweaked" that injury - Wow. I do NOT want the Bills to pay that price. Maybe that's just me. But Hopkins would not be a "final piece" for the Bills. We need an MLB, another 3TDT, and IMHO at least solid RT competition for Brown. Rapaport is legit, but to take what he tweeted and apply it to the Bills sounds like heavy speculation to me.

I dunno, Gunner. Last season Josh was pulling ***** he hadn't pulled since his rookie year and somewhat his 2nd season. Hurdling guys, trucking guys. It was like someone took the governor off his engine. He was not doing that stuff in 2020 and 2021 to the same degree. I think he must have finished the season bruised and beaten to hell, and it hindered him, and he and McDermott both know it. I don't think you'll take it out of him entirely, but I don't see why he can't at least go back to what he was doing in 2020. Have you looked at the all-22 to verify that there were no underneath options that would have moved the chains om some of those? I have not. I ask, because in earlier games where Josh was throwing deep a lot, there actually were players open underneath that would have gained yards (on 1st and 10) or moved the chains (on 3rd and 4, 3rd and 2. I can't tell you if Josh doesn't see them, or doesn't trust them, or doesn't trust himself to hit them. But I can tell you they were there in previous games, and I believe they were probably there against Cincy.

Absolutely! As I said, totally understandable to want an upgrade - but let's give the guy credit for what he's asked to do and what he's done.

In fact, he does not lead the league in drops https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2022/receiving_advanced.htm He's like 14th in drop percentage, which I think is the most meaningful number. I'm not saying he doesn't have too many drops, but why exaggerate? What are their metrics? Because by passer rating when targeted, he's pretty low - but that's a metric that speaks at least as much about the QB and when/how he targets the WR. Gabe can have a low passer rating when targeted because Josh is throwing it away in his general direction a lot, or throwing him off-target, uncatchable balls. By most metrics which most people use to assess WR, he's quite a bit better than that - you know, receiving yards (33), yds per game (34), Y/R (2), TD (19) 1D (49). His catch % is low though (186) but again, I'm not sure that's all on him - I think Josh did him no favors with the target #s. That's not to say that you, or I, or the Bills, shouldn't be wanting an upgrade at #2, but why not recognize what the guy did, and did well?

Concur. Also as I've said elsewhere, Beane has talked about "his process" for want of a better term - he likes to focus on our impending FA, on FA, and make contract changes/extensions only as he needs to to get under the cap and sign his FA. Then the draft. Then he gets to work on contract extensions.

There had been talk the previous fall when Diggs went AWOL and got fined. But the Vikes said "no". When it happened, there was none of this long dragged out schtuff. Diggs tweeted something about a new beginning, Beane's people called Vikes "hey, is he available?" and the next thing we knew he was in Buffalo.

Why should we give credence to a dude called "ErieCountyBulls" who is following almost as many people as he has followers? I mean, I know a guy has to start somewhere but for someone who joined Twitter in 2014, 9 years ago, those are miniscule numbers Has this guy ever said anything else that shows credibility? https://www.audacy.com/wgr550/sports/bills/brandon-beane-address-deandre-hopkins-speculation?utm_campaign=sharebutton&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_term=WGRAM

I think we'll see a DaQuan Jones extension, and possibly from comments Beane has dropped an Ed Oliver extension. Beane has made it clear in the past that before FA and the draft, he focuses on renegotiating contracts/extensions only as needed to generate cap. Then after the draft, he gets busy looking at extensions. I'm sure they'll draft DL as well, the question is where?

Crass to follow my own post, but I got news On Ed Oliver. Beane sounds like he plans on him being here and even mentioned extension: Also, it's reported Jordan Phillips has been to Buffalo on a FA visit. Since he knows the facility, I would assume that would be for a physical check and maybe a look at how he's working out, maybe a chat about the defense?

I mean, I read his scouting report - I read Bernard's scouting report. I never said that I thought speed and size are the only things that matter. I asked how the two of them differ. Your answer?