Beck Water

TF are the Chargers up to? They trade away Keenan Allen for a 4th round pick after a 1200+ yd 100+ catch season, and spend $5M to sign this guy? They did double-dip on WR in the draft though, so that should make their fans all happy! Pretty much, This Pretty much, This

I hear you on discounting statements made by players, but Milano seems cut from a different mold - Mr Minimalist in what he says to the press and how often. He's not a Von Miller offering to do a presser while he's only just been designated to return, and taking up a roster spot before he's really able to play effectively. Milano is Mr 'Time Will Tell'. Of course, being able to do his normal off- season training and being able to play at an all-pro level, are two different things, I grant that. So I may read too much into it. As far as timeline/coordinates, have you seen this Banged Up Bills article? https://bangedupbills.com/2023/10/09/examining-buffalo-bills-matt-milanos-right-knee-injury/ The median "lost time" is 232 days; the upper range 330 days. That would put him somewhere between end of May (232 days) and beginning of September (330 days). He mentions a couple of other cases: Of course, there are different degrees and locations of the fracture, and that impacts the length of healing, but it's very positive that Milano was seen on the sidelines moving around and even jumping up and down a bit. As I understand it, the big concern with any fracture is nonunion, where the bones simply don't heal for whatever reason (and sometimes unpredictably). That doesn't seem to be at issue here.

I tend to agree. The wild card is how well McDermott thinks Dorian Williams will come along this season - could he play for Milano if need be? If that's the belief, then yeah, OK, they could still be concerned about Milano and yet only sign some depth. I think Morrow and Jones could make it to the 53. Milano, Williams, Bernard, Morrow, Ulofoshio, Jones. We normally carry 6. I do think Jones isn't a lock and is going to be battling it out with Spector.

I tend to agree. The wild card is how well McDermott thinks Dorian Williams will come along this season - could he play for Milano if need be? If that's the belief, then yeah, OK, they could still be concerned about Milano and yet only sign some depth. I think Morrow and Jones could make it to the 53. Milano, Williams, Bernard, Morrow, Ulofoshio, Jones. We normally carry 6. I do think Jones isn't a lock and is going to be battling it out with Spector.

It's possible. Last year, Hamlin was probably a better safety and not as good ST guy as Zane Anderson coming out of camp, better choice than Jared Mayden or Dean Marlowe but that's a low bar. This year we have Rapp and Edwards, we just drafted Bishop in the 2nd so I think he's a lock....I don't know. I guess I'm hoping we make another move at Safety to bring in someone good, but, if we think our starting safeties are some mixture of Rapp, Edwards and Bishop, maybe we roll with Lewis as a backup, maybe we keep both Lewis and Hamlin. I think it's possible we roll with Lewis as our 4th backup Safety, and keep Hardy on the 53 man roster as a punt returner and wasn't it said he could play slot corner?

Good shot at it Small nit you by DT Jonathan, I assume you mean Kingsley Jonathan. He's a DE. Couple of quick comments: Hamler I think has returned like, 2 or 3 punts his rookie year. When he has more years in the league than punt returns, I don't think he's our PR. The Smurf CB we drafted (Hardy) has punt returner and gunner experience, so there's that. And of course.....Coleman can return punts. heh.

I think it's probable that Beane/the Bills value Shorter, Shavers, Thompson, Isabella, and /or Hamler more highly than any of the receivers available from late Round 4 on. Thing is, Hamler has been "that guy" who makes ya wonder if Doug Whaley was right when he said the human body just isn't made to play football. So I don't think the Bills are counting on him. Or maybe I just hope the Bills aren't counting on him.

European or African?

Deion is formerly an excellent LB who struggled with injuries at the beginning of the 2022 season, and as a result is down to signing 1 year contracts, vet min last year, probably vet min this year or even VSB. He started the 2023 season on the Panthers practice squad. Brings us to 8 LB plus a rookie camp tryout. We just signed Quintez Cephus, a guy who played 3 years for Detroit with some nice catches, got spanked by Goodell and out of football for a year, probably similar vet minimum. We currently have what, 11 WR on the roster? We took 13 into camp least season, I believe, so expect a couple more. I'd like to see the Bills make a swing for a quality guy by trade or FA signing, but I don't think we're likely to see any more significant moves until after June 1 when Tre White's money comes off our cap But we're likely to continue to add vets here and there for depth.

OK, Fair. We don't know what we don't know. Matt Milano probably even doesn't know if he'll start the season in All-Pro form. But Deion Jones, who signed a vet minimum deal with Carolina last season, is not being brought in as a potential Milano replacement. He's here as depth, on the wager that even at age 30 and having dropped off significantly, he might still be a better defensive player than 33 year old AJ Klein or 32 year old Tyler Matakevich. It was 9 last year over the summer. Matt Milano, Terrel Bernard, Tyrel Dodson, Dorian Williams, Tyler Matakevich, Baylon Spector Cuts were Travin Howard, DaShaun White, AJ Klein. We currently have Milano, Bernard, Williams, Spector, Morrow, Jones, Olofoshio, and I think one UDFA signing. That's like 8. Pro football reference still lists Tyler Matakevich on the Bills 2024 roster but I'm pretty sure that's just wrong, everyplace else says he's a FA.

We normally carry 6 LB on the roster and bring 9 or so into camp That's NORMALLY. Check it out https://billswire.usatoday.com/lists/2023-buffalo-bills-53-man-roster-roster-cuts-brandon-beane-nfl/ People aren't always aware because Dodson and Matekevich primarly played teams and had been hanging out as depth 4-Ev-Ah

For the love of God can the posters on TBD stop squealing about CaroLove every time the Bills sign a player who had some association with Carolina? The Bills aren't signing Deion Jones because he most recently played for Carolina. The Bills are signing him because he was a damned fine MLB for Atlanta for 6 years and while he's probably no longer a Beast in the Middle, he's an upgrade on Tyler Matakevich and AJ Klein. The fact that his most recent year was with Carolina is immaterial beyond Beane maybe called Dan Morgan to see if he could get some inside scoop on him, as he would call any FO guy he knew when a player had missed games with injury.

Well, let me put it to you in a different light. Beane has said that the last game the team plays tends to showcase the weaknesses. What happened in the last, the last 2 games really, that the team played? 1) we had inadequate LB depth - Milano had already been lost to the season. Tyrel Dodson, who replaced him platooning with Poyer, was lost halfway through the final regular season game. Terrel Bernard was lost halfway through the WC playoff. So we platooned AJ Klein, Dorian Williams, and Baylon Spector during the Pittsburgh game after Bernard went out, then Klein, 1-armed Dodson, and Dorian Williams vs KC. Let's just say, "It didn't work". 2) our WR were getting out-physicaled by the KC LB and DB. I'm not sure who it was but I literally saw one of our receivers shoved like 3 yards off his route - all legal and within 5 yds of the LOS Basically, McDermott and Beane were forced to acknowledge that 31 yr old Matekevich was 100% there for ST at this point, that they couldn't count on Dodson or Spector to back up Bernard at MLB, and maybe Dorian Williams will develop but he's not there yet. So Dodson and Matekevich are gone. That left our LB corps at Milano, Bernard, Williams, Spector, Morrow, and who? We usually have 6. I don't think they want to count on a late 5th round rookie; if he can beat someone out, great, if not, he can sit on the practice squad. Even if they 100% count on the return of Milano (and in one of his brief press interactions, Milano said that his recovery was on track and he would have a normal off-season; he strode into the building for OTAs like a man on a mission), the Bills badly need adequate depth at LB, that is an upgrade to Matekevich, Dodson, Klein, Spector, and Williams. Morrow started in Chicao 2 yrs ago and Philly last year; he also played teams. It's been 3 years since Deion Jones started in Atlanta, but he played about 1/3 of the defensive snaps for Carolina last season and more for Cleveland the year before (after an early stint on IR). Now Spector and Williams may take a step, not saying they can't especially rookie Williams. But if they don't, Beane is a Man with a Plan. None of us want to see AJ Klein walk out on the field at MLB next to Tyrell Dodson for a playoff game, and that includes Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott.

You make an excellent point, but part of being a 'quality' NFL WR or CB is having that swagger, that self confidence. I think a quality FA WR looks at our roster and goes - "Huh. Rookie who ran a 4.6 40 and can't separate. Two 600 yd slot guys. Couple tight ends, I'm a receiver, don't compare me to a TE, that's offensive (channeling Beas there). Career journeyman ST guy. Imma walk to the head of that class, no problem!" I'm not saying that to diss off Coleman Curtis Samuel Hollins Kincaid or Knox. I think they're all capable of more if Brady designs a good offense. I'm just saying if I were a quality FA WR I would not look at myself as coming here to be #6. Even Mack Hollins, career journeyman, was quoted as saying last year “I mean, the No. 1 spot is up and I’ll go for it,” Hollins said after a recent practice. “Drake is my roommate. He gets no free days. Every spot in my mind and every receiver’s mind is up for grabs. Just because he got a nice signing bonus, there’s no free lunches around here. No free lunches.” Do you think Diggs moved to Houston saying "oh, Nico Collins, 108 targets, 1297 yards, I don't know how I'll get my bag behind him". Hell no. Diggs flew down there saying "you the little dog, now the Big Dog come." He might be mistaken, but that's what's in his head, in any quality WR head.

I don't think he's listening to you. Didn't you want him to bring you Odunze?

Have we had this one yet? https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39639715/keon-coleman-florida-state-wr-combine-scenes-nfl-draft

I'm with you until you got to $6M on 1 year for MVS. You do realize MVS caught 21 passes for 315 yds last season, playing 58% of the snaps in 16 games and with Patrick Mahomes as his QB? It's like the "Inverse New York New York" - "If you can't make it there, you can't make it anywhere" Chark had more snaps, yards, and receptions, he was behind Thielen, and he had a rookie QB throwing to him, so I see his 35 receptions/525 yds as more excuseable. but....... His last contract, coming off 30 receptions for 502 yds, was 1 yr/$5M fully guaranteed, in part because he missed 6 games with an ankle injury so might have done more if he stayed healthy. Well, he "stayed healthy" but didn't do too much more in Carolina, so I don't know if he's washed, or it was playing with a rookie, or ?? I don't think he's a $6M guy to Beane. I think a difference is that through it all, Mahomes had his security blanket receiver TE Travis Kelce OK, so what is the difference between regular season games where our D gets stops against Mahomes, vs playoffs? Looking at the list of starters in the box score might possibly provide a clue.

Is this a credible source, though? It reads like kind of a fan account. I mean, when an account has to tell you they're "credentialed media" and they don't seem to be followed by many legit media....

It's in Tim's article. She has a degree in geology from U. Pittsburgh and is an executive with JKLM Energy, one of Pegula's two petroleum/gas business. I believe somewhere else it said her brother is an executive working for East Enterprises (or maybe it was Rocky Mountain Oil and Gas?), which is the other Pegula core business. So she's a businesswoman with experience running things and managing people, albeit not sports teams.

Tim has written as though there was some type of skullduggery or power struggle, and also possibly a family feud between Jessica and Terry due to her Op Ed. Which I can't imagine her not clearing ahead of time with her Dad, actually, so let's tentatively rule that out. It seems that other people (not related to Terry Pegula) have also been fired, so it could be as simple as "new boss wants His Guy" and could have nothing to do with Jessica's Op Ed triggering some Family Feud (which is what Tim Graham implies). Wasn't there a lot of turmoil just around that time, with the new COO being fired for having an affair with a subordinate? It also wouldn't be a surprise if the kids from the first marriage did not want to be directly involved with the Bills while Kim was taking an active and visible role in management, but now that she's out of the picture, they're stating a preference and claiming precedence. If Laura is 41 (per Graham article) she would have been 10 when 23 year old Kim married Terry, which has to be...awkward, even if she had no particular animosity towards Kim.

As the consultant said to a branch of my in-laws: "You guys need to stop talking about heirs and inheritance. No one has died." Yes. Yes, they both used to post here and Tim Graham hasn't for years, while John Wawow changed his user name to @Delete This Account

I think it's "deer sauce" or piquante sauce. This guy will tell you how it's done (sauce starts in about 2 min in). I believe it's pretty common in Louisiana to put it on just about everything - pork, chicken, gator, deer, seafood

rooting for him, for sure!

I think the bit about moving up in the 2nd was in his Day 2 post-draft presser. The bit about 'wanting to move up but you can't always find a partner' was in his final, draft-wrap up, post Day 3 presser. He didn't specifically say "in the 4th", but....we had 4 picks in the 5th, and he wound up outright trading our 2nd 5th for a 2025 4th. I don't think it's a huge surmise that there may have been more players he wanted to draft in the 4th than in the 5th, where he flipped one to next year. It's not a surprise that Beane would want to move up in later rounds; wanting to move up in later rounds as well as the 1st is a fairly frequent Beane MO.

I agree with both bolded points. In recent history, Rousseau and Basham come to mind. I think one reason it doesn't work out so well to double dip is illustrated in that pairing; there's a tendency, I think, to hedge one's bets in other ways than numerically. Rousseau was the high ceiling, low floor "boom or bust" guy. Basham was supposed to be the more NFL-ready 3-year starter with draft notes about his technique, explosiveness, and "plan", the high-floor low ceiling guy. But coming from a lower level of competition (I think? Wake Forest?) his floor wasn't high enough. True. But I think part of Beane's choice to draft an RB, would be that the RB room has 3 returning vets in Cook (3rd year) Ty Johnson (6th year) and Reggie Gilliam (5th year). The WR room on the other hand just lost two leaders in Diggs and Davis. We do have Shakir in his 3rd year and journeyman vet Mack Hollis. But that may have been a factor in choosing to go the FA route at WR And I think it's likely we'll add a vet RB in FA as well.