GASabresIUFan

Let the Cine hyde train begin. He was a terrific college player and he's now with the best DB coach in the NFL. Excited to see him improve over the course of the season and then challenge for a starting job next season. I'd like to add James Cook to the list. There are so many people here and in the national media that downplayed his 1500 yard season last year as a 1st year starter. His pre-draft description said he couldn't run inside or be an every down back. Wrong and wrong! People here wanted to dump him in the off-season for a 2nd day pick. A miss guided idea to say the least. The pre-season fantasy guides and season previews didn't even have Cook in the top 10 of NFL backs and some even further back. NFL.com had him 12th. https://www.nfl.com/news/ranking-all-32-rb1s-heading-into-2024-nfl-season-christian-mccaffrey-derrick-henry-top-pecking-order. CBS had him outside the top 20. What a joke. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/top-20-running-backs-rankings-for-2024-nfl-season-christian-mccaffrey-derrick-henry-atop-list-once-again/ If this isn't the definition of under the radar after being 3rd in the NFL in yards from scrimmage in 2023, I don't know what is. Oliver and Benford certainly quality as well. Benford was better than Elam in camp the year they were drafted and Benford has improved every game and every practice. Finally today the Sporting News is giving him some props. https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/buffalo-bills/news/buffalo-bills-cb-christian-benford-already-better-sauce-gardner-new-york-jets-nfl/ce1e504a1dc3d2510f58d18a

A little off topic, but who are Beane's top 10 draft picks overall and top 5 value picks? 1. Allen 2. T Johnson 3. Benford 4. Teller (2 - AP, 3 - PB) 5. Cook 6. Rousseau 7. Oliver 8. Brown 9. Bernard 10. Edmunds Top 5 Value 1. T Johnson 2. Benford 3. Teller 4. Davis 5. Shakir Up and comers - Shakir, Kincaid, Cook, Bernard, Williams, Spector, Coleman, Bishop, SVPG, Torrence.

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/buffalo-bills/news/buffalo-bills-cb-christian-benford-already-better-sauce-gardner-new-york-jets-nfl/ce1e504a1dc3d2510f58d18a Apparently there are other elite players on the Bills besides Josh Allen.

Not one team in the NFL has traded a kicker during the season in the last 5 years.

Because the trade the James Cook crowd needs something to do. Wait til they start the trade Benford thread.

FYI: There were 16 in-season trades last year total. 8 on deadline day. Of the 16 players: 5 DE, 4 WR, 2 CB, 2S, 1 OL, 1 QB & 1 RB. That's all folks.

Let's package Bass, Cook and Elam. I'm sure someone has 15 mill in cap space. LOL. Torrence is struggling a little, lets trade him also. If we haven't learned anything about the last 2 seasons is that injuries happen and often. Why do people keep wanting to trade our depth, especially depth that knows the system. Look who is filling in for the injuries; Cam Lewis (year 6 in the system), Ingram (year 3 in the system), Spector (year 3 in the system), Williams (year 2 in the system), even Hamlin (year 4 in the system) is starting over the finally healthy Edwards or Bishop who are both new to the system. This is Year 3 in the system for Elam. Right now with Lewis and Ingram playing regularly, Elam is next man up. He isn't getting traded this season. Different conversation next off-season.

How about we just beat the crap out of teams and not have to worry about GW field goals.

This will soften up over the course of the season. Defenses will creep up to stop the short passes and limit the running opening up 15-20 yard passes to the slot receiver and TE between the fronts 6/7 and the 2 deep safety. Offense vs defense is cat and mouse. Teams will stack the box until you prove you can either run through it or pass over it. Start hitting 15-20 yard chunk plays against the stacked box, defenses will put more LBs in coverage opening lanes for the running backs. The Bills are designed for this ebb and flow especially with the added benefit of teams having to spy on Josh to limit his rushing lanes when things breakdown. This keeps an extra defender in, allowing better WR/TE matchup. The more I think about the Brady plan, it seems designed to dominate the middle of the field. Our best pass receivers are mostly known as inside players, such as Cook, Shakir, Samuel, Kincaid and even Coleman. All can be split out, but all seem to do their best work inside. I wonder what new wrinkle Brady has in store for Jax.

Pre the 2023 season 3 long time veteran kickers were traded in late August. Will Lutz, Nick Folk and Dustin Hopkins all changed teams. Lutz and Folk each were traded for a 7th rd pick. In all three cases the acquiring team didn’t have an established kicker on the roster. In my quick search I couldn’t find an in-season trade for a kicker. Obviously kicker trades happen, but the Bills aren’t moving on from Bass this season and taking a 7 mill cap hit. I guess McD will just have to be more aggressive on 4th and short and get Josh to pass to Cookie for more touchdowns.

34-14 Bills

No one is trading us a kicker now or at anytime this season. If they want to replace Bass it will be a FA signing and good luck finding someone decent. Releasing Bass would cause a $7.38 dead cap hit this season. We can move on after this season for only 3 mill in 2025. Over the last 3 years only 2 teams of 21 to start 0-2 made the playoffs. There are currently 9 0-2 teams. Given that history we can expect one of these teams to make the playoffs. My guess is one of Cin or Balt will turn it around. The "best" thing that could happen is Bass gets "injured" and goes on IR for the season forcing the Bills to find a new kicker. This assumes Bass continues to struggle. Bass is 3/4 with a long of 43 yards and he is 8/8 on XP.

Repeating this doesn't make it true. I honestly believe that Beane is taking a wait and see approach to the position. One other note, Douglas is excelling in our system. I'm not sure there is another perfect fit for him elsewhere given his athletic profile and age.

More proof Josh is overrated. I did find it interesting that Sauce Gardner (and Tre White) were in the loser portion of the graphic above. Also, it's not really a small sample size. Benford was excellent last season as well. Douglas made an immediate impact when he got here. This is Douglas' 13th game as a Bill (regular + playoffs), including 11 starts (1 game inactive). That's not really a small sample size any longer. Benford/Douglas starter together 7 times last season as well.

Maybe for a decent player, but Elam isn't even a decent player. He is a career backup that doesn't see the field. No one is paying 11 mill for such a player. Even if he becomes a starter next year, the Bills won't be keeping him for 11 million. Taron Johnson's second contract was 3 years 24,000,000.

Did we really need these charts to tell us the Bills are winning the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball? We all watched the games. The Bills have run the ball well, which doesn't happen without the OL winning upfront. Josh has had clean pockets and rarely have teams pressured him through 2 weeks; another sign the line is winning. Groot, Miller, Oliver etc have consistently pressured two explosive QB, shutting down to potent passing attacks and we are holding up against the run on defense. The counting stats show this as well. Advanced analytics are interesting, but most of the time they just confirm what we already knew.

I'm not losing sleep for Rasul. His career earnings are 25 million and going up from there. I wouldn't begrudge Douglas going for the money, but at the same time, winning is important to these guys.

It's funny how often the analytics follow the eye test.

Trade him now while his value is high!!!! 😎

Don’t forget there are 10 rookies on the 53 man roster including 8 draft picks and 2 UDFAs.

Like anything else, the answer is it depends. How does Douglas play in the next 15 games? Does Douglas stay healthy? How does Elam play when he gets a chance? What is our cap situation? Does Douglas want to be here or is the biggest payday his only concern? How big is Benford’s extension? Does McBeane think Elam or Ingram could do the job just as well? Ultimately this could be a Gilmore situation in that he takes his services to the highest bidder each year. If so, Beane lets him go, but I don’t think we can say for sure he won’t be back. You may put the odds close to zero, but I’m more in the 50/50 camp.

By converting most of Douglas’ 1 year contract to a bonus, they were able to lower his cap hit from around 8 mill to 3.3 mill. The remaining money gets amortized over 3 void years, thus the dead cap hits in 25, 26, and 27 even though the player is probably no longer a Bill.

I almost forgot about him. He absolutely could be in the mix next season.

This guy has always spouted nonsense. There is no logic in his "take." How can Josh be a system QB when he has played under 3 different OCs with different systems in the last 4 years including one season with 2 OCs and thrived in all of them.

Josh has a turnover this year. A fumble early in the AZ game. If he had done his research, he'd have noticed that this Brady system is completely different in the passing game than Daboll or Dorsey. More short passes, no go to receiver and more plays to the TE. Obviously part of that is personnel specific, but much of that is also scheme. Josh is the farthest thing from a system QB.