vtnatefootball11

It was predictable at the time too. He's always had injury/drop issues. Was never going to be an elite TE, should have never been paid as one.

I normally agree with your takes Dawk but this is delusional. You have to look at total cap hit. He's 4th, Taysom Hill was paid as a quarterback/TE, not TE. He's a number two TE for us moving forward, and we spent a first round pick on a TE last year! Wake up. The Bills own FO office knows it was a bad contract.

I edited it, to include Kittle and Andrews. It's true. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/salaries/breakdown/tight-end/ Exactly that's my point! His ceiling was a fairly consistent playmaker if he has enough support around him, why did we pay him elite TE money?! It is a disgusting contract any way you look at it, even getting full leniency for injuries, death of his brother etc. It's awful, awful. GM malpractice really. Beane has been so damn good it's just shocking, that's why I can't get over it. Miller was an elite player and it was risky contract but at least I understand the roll of the dice there.

Injury plagued?! Try being replaced by a rookie that we took in the first round because Knox was a not an impact player to begin with. You are forgetting he didn't live up to the contract last year either, (and never has). He got paid top 5 TE money! Only Kittle, Andrews and Kelce will make more than him this coming season (and like barely more). And he's always had some durability questions marks, that's part of the issue with the contract!

Bringing this thread back to life after some time has passed from the Knox signing. I took a lot of heat for saying it on this board at the time, but it was a terrible contract then and looks even worse now. It needs to be talked about how bad of a miss this was by Beane. He is going to count $14 mil against the cap this year, $20m if we release him... How the heck did Beane let this happen! His touchdown numbers were inflated that season before we re-signed him, there was no good reason to extend him at that time. He's never flashed elite talent. I'm still sick over it.

That sure as heck wasn't Allen's fault! We wouldn't even be a .500 team without him.

Would love this trade for the Bills but no way the Titans would do it. Burks has more value than Elam straight up. If we could get Burks and also draft a WR round 1 though, I would feel a lot better about this offense.

Huh??? Almost all of them are significant. Benard is very significant, particularly without Milano; he's been huge all year and is the playcaller of our defense! Also, Douglas, Benford and Taron Johnson are very important defensive starters in the secondary, if even one or two can't go that's a problem (especially Johnson who is one of our best players). You can hide maybe one bad player but having reserve players over the defense will be exploited by Reid/Mahomes. Not saying we can't win with a great offensive performance and opportunistic defense, but the injuries will certainly be significant.

If he we was doing it to talk **** do you really think he would use "LongTimeBillsFan" as his name? Clearly a think skinned fan base.

I hear you but when two 3rd round picks are involved I'm not going to think twice about it, it's a net positive. Part of the consequences of being a successful franchise, other teams want your personnel. Would you rather us suck and not have anyone looking to hawk our guys?

Who cares man it's front office personnel, not a coach! Let him interview away. And fingers crossed he gets it too, not only good for him and his family but that's is two extra 3rd round picks for the Bills!

But if his injury is that severe then why are the coaches calling multiple screens (and even handoffs) to him that ensure he takes hits? Why not act a decoy on the most critical passing downs and take two defenders deep with you and clear out the underneath for someone else? Not to mention, what are the bills risking draft picks/fines to cover the injury up even after being asked about it by the media and scrutiny now on it? There is more to this than just an injury. Not saying it's some huge conspiracy, but speculating that there could be some discontent that has brewed since the clear display of frustration in the offseason is not crazy, it's an objective question to ask.

I agree with your bottom paragraph completely. This doesn't have to be some huge conspiracy. It could be that the Bills are trying to make sure they can develop ways to win without him (and maybe also he has a nagging injury as well, injury alone doesn't explain it given his odd usage). That is a little bit of a "we need to show we can win without relying on Diggs" though, not saying the Bills are shoving that in his face, but Bills coaches/Allen may be making a conscious effort not to overuse him and give other receivers chances in big situations. Maybe Diggs supports this as well and is trying to protect his body (and emotional investment) long term. Him coming out on crucial third downs (including by design from the Bills staff) is still very odd though, given his competitive nature. Still have yet to hear a great explanation for it.

Exactly. But he's our best skilled player and commands double teams, so either those are either TERRIBLE decisions by the coaches (like legit malpractice) or something else is going on behind the scenes here. Curious, what is my predetermined conclusion? I have stated over and over again, I'm not advocating a wild conspiracy theory, I'm asking why he is being taken out by coaches choice on third downs (this has been confirmed by coaches that it is their personnel decision, not Diggs taking himself out). There is a reason, we just don't know it. The coaches explanations don't add up and an injury doesn't fully explain it.

Agree with this 100%. Only makes it more likely that this is scheming him out on third downs, rather than him tapping out in the most critical situations. No way Diggs competitive as he is is keeping himself out.

Injury wouldn't fully explain it.

It misses the point of the entire post, why is Diggs being schemed off the filed on the most crucial third downs in must win games?

Something is up between Josh/Bills and Stef man, if you foolishly want to believe everything is great, go right ahead. I hope I'm completely wrong by the way, and it's purely an injury thing, but we won't know until the offseason. If Bills win it all, it would fix whatever is going on anyway. Let's hope that happens and this is a non-story.

I agree with you on the Go Bills. I wasn't putting those words in his mouth, that was off the cuff explanation, not his words, which I said was one of hundreds of possible explanations, cut your BS. Nobody is a bigger fan of Stef than me. You're the one suggesting he is tapping out every single play that he's off, which I'm telling you is wrong, I don't buy he would ever do that on crucial third downs. He is being schemed out for some reason on certain downs. Coaches have confirmed this. It doesn't make sense to make, that's why I'm asking about it trying to find answers. Even if he's hurt, keep him on as a decoy and draw two defenders in coverage.

Then why are the Bills reporting Allen's shoulder? Why did the report Diggs back a few weeks back? And by "proven" I meant the Bills coaching staff has said the exact opposite, and confirmed they schemed him out intentional not because he was asking or injury. I should have said "directly contradicted" rather than "proven" I'll give you that. But there is plenty of film of Allen not throwing his way when he is open on intermediate routes which has never happened in the past, he was always the first look. They could just be not trying to be so Diggs heavy on the first read, who knows. I'm not suggesting anything crazy, just asking the questions why he is being schemed out on crucial downs? An injury explanation doesn't add up, period.

That's a stretch to your first part. To your second it still wouldn't make sense if he is truly hurt. Nobody is suggesting that "Stef is mad so Bills are benching him". In fact, Stef may be good and just saying he's tied of carrying the load and is only gonna do minimal effort until playoffs and Bills are trying to get other guys opportunities to grow, who knows, could be a hundred different things. We are just asking the question, why is he intentionally being schemed out by the Bills on crucial downs? What the heck is going on? We won't know the real reason until season ends likely, but something is up.

Watch the film and read the athletic article, I don't have time to pull together the statistics. McCourty highlights some of the intermediate routes where Diggs is wide open and Josh doesn't even look his way. I'm not suggesting some childish conspiracy on the bills part to not get the Diggs the ball, but clearly something is off between him and Allen, and the Bills are intentionally using him in less significant ways, and intentionally designing him off the field on third downs even when he isn't calling to be tapped out. Something has been going on in recent weeks, it's obvious if you don't have the blinders on. And no don't tell me this is all just part of huge injury conspiracy scheme to hid an injury and risk fines/draft picks when they easily just could report it as they have with all other players every year. Even if, everyone has nagging injuries, it's something more than that.

This has been proven incorrect. Josh hasn't even looked his way when is open on several intermediate routes in recent games, which is crazy and never would have happened in the past. He also has been intentionally schemed off on some third downs (not asking for it), and the Bills coaches have confirmed as much. Unless they are part of a massive coverup that could subject them to fines/loss of draft picks (which why would they do that? just report he has a nagging back), it's not just an injury thing. I'm sure everyone is banged up right now, but something else is going on.

But then why is he playing some unimportant plays but coming out crucial third downs in must win games? Why are they throwing screen passes to him that all but ensure he's getting hit?

That's not it. At least that would be stupid if so. The Bills already reported his back injury a while back, why would they hide it now? Also, even if Stef was nursing a back, do you think Stef would play part of the games but not crucial third downs? You think they would design screens to him so he automatically gets hit? That doesn't make sense. Something is going on.