GASabresIUFan

My problem with the article is that position groups are not equally as important to a team success and shouldn't be graded that way. IMHO QBs and OL are significantly more important to a team's success on offense then any skill group. You can have all the talent in the world at WR, but without a good QB and an Oline to keep him upright, the WR is wasted. Having pro-bowler Barkley at RB hasn't done the NYG much good because they lack a QB and Oline. Also he doesn't account for the difference in quality within the position group. Maybe the best position group in the division is RB. Hall is great, Cook is excellent, the tandem in Miami is very good as is Stevenson (when healthy). IMHO, I'd grade on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being the best, I'd grade Hall a 1, Cook a 2, the Miami tandem a 2 or 3 and Stevenson a 3 or 4. However when looking at QB and using the same scale, I'd give Allen a 1, Tua a 3 or 4, Rodgers a 4 (if healthy) and whomever is playing in NE a 10. Admittedly accounting for those variables makes writing the article harder, but it would make it more accurate.

If he continued to play the entire season like he did the first 6 weeks, he'd still be here. Unfortunately he went from catching 74% of his targets early in the year to 61% over the last 13 weeks. He also dropped a sure fire TD in the playoffs against KC that likely would have won us the game. Produce and no one cares about your attitude. Failing to produce and having a bad attitude gets someone traded.

No team wins with a lousy O-line. Having a bad Oline and a statute at QB is a recipe for disaster. Their defense was elite last season and should be again this year.

This is a what have you done for me lately league. Who was the better player after week 6 last season Diggs or Shakir? The stats and the eye test say Shakir. Maybe Diggs is reborn in the Houston offense, but he is no longer the player we saw 3-4 years ago.

I'm personally going to miss Morse, Hyde and Poyer. They along with DIggs were critical pieces along with Allen in making the Bills a contender. The Hyde Poyer combo was on the NFL's best for years. However, time marches on and none of the 4 players mentioned are what they once were and Beane was correct to move on. Poyer and Hyde should eventually be enshrined in the Bills HOF. They were that good.

The Jets are not the better team even on paper even with the Bills' departures. The Bills are slightly downgraded on paper, but we all know that what happens on paper is meaningless once the season starts. The Bills improved in the second half of the season last year because of 6 1st and 2nd year players (Benford, Benard, Torrence, Cook, Shakir and Kincaid) plus the addition of Douglas in a trade. Is there any reason to think that those kids won't continue to improve and help the team improve with them?

The sports "Media" is already beginning their "analysis" that the Bills are done in 2024. The Athletic (a NYT company) has an article today by the Jets beat writer about how the Jets have the most talented roster in the AFC East (their 80 year old QB not withstanding) and we all know how objective the NYT is. https://theathletic.com/5388899/2024/04/04/jets-best-afc-east-roster-diggs-trade/ How much are we really going to miss any of the players released, traded or not re-signed this off-season? Wide Receivers Let's start with the elephant in the room. The Bills moved on from both veteran boundary receivers including "superstar" Stefon Diggs. Those two accounted for 2349 receiving yards last season and 15 TDs. However, Davis caught only 56% of his targets and after week 6 Diggs caught only 61% of his opportunities. In fact, Diggs, after week 6, was on pace to only put up 830 yards (on 145 targets) in a full season. That would have put him 25 in NFL. He also was clearly no longer a fit in a Joe Brady offense. On the other hand Kincaid and Shakir flourished after week 6. Kincaid was inactive in week 6, but over the next 13 weeks (including the playoffs) his usage increased and he paced for 860 yards over a 17 week season. His usage in his second season should increase further with Diggs gone. Shakir's game also changed after week 6. In the first 6 weeks last season, Shakir averaged less than 1 target per game. 1 target! After week six, Shakir was on pace for 845 yards (on only 68 targets). I also researched how the average WR drafted from 20-40 over the last 5 years produced in his rookie season. The average was about 660 yards. There were some stars like Jefferson, Tee Higgins, and Jordan Addison and some duds, but for the most part most were solid to good. I'm confident that Beane & Co will find someone in the draft to help the Bills stretch the field with their 1st pick, something we didn't have last season. In addition we added proven slot receiver Curtis Samuel who should flourish in Brady's offense and we aren't going to miss the departed Harty or Sherfield at all. Defensive Line Are we really going to miss Phillips, Lawson, Ford or Settle? No didn't think so. That leaves Leonard Floyd. No BS, we are going to miss him. The hope here is that Miller can capture at least some of his old form (he did look better in the playoffs) and that he and Epenesa can be effective enough to allow Rousseau to go back to his natural position and make up for the loss of Floyd. My hope is that they draft a edge rusher in the 2nd rd to help make up for the loss. Offensive line Out with Bates and Morse. Considering Bates played all of 35 snaps, I don't think he'll be missed. Morse on the other hand has been the Bills center for the last 5 years and has done a very good job, but at 32 it is a reasonable question to ask how much he has left in the tank. Beane solution is moving McGovern to center and creating a competition for the guard spot to returnee David Edwards (148 snaps last season - the most by a Bills backup OL) and presumably veteran La'el Collins. Collins has started 86 of 89 career games as a rt, but missed last season with injuries. Running back Lat Murray, Hines and Harris are gone. They won't be missed. Cook became a star last season. Ty Johnson also returns and was very effective last season in limited reps. The Bills will likely add another back at some point Safety Out with Hyde and Poyer and in with Mike Edwards and Rapp becomes a starter. This is a slight downgrade based on last year's grades, but it was time to move on from Hyde and Poyer. Corners and Linebackers White and Dodson are the big name departures, but given White's injury history and the return to health of pro bower Matt Milano, the play of Taron Johnson, Douglas, Benard and Benford, I don't think we'll miss either player. On paper the Bills are slightly downgraded. We have fair questions at WR, OL, DL and safety. However, I'm not worried about the wide receivers. To me, removing DIggs and Davis has opened the opportunity for Allen to longer have to worry about Diggs getting targets. He can now focus solely on who is open. At safety, the declines in Poyer and Hyde were very noticeable and Rapp and Edwards should give us at least when the vets did. I'm also not worried about the OL. Torrence and Brown should continue to improve and McGovern proved he has a very capable interior lineman last season. The only loss the really worries me is Floyd. Despite the downgrades on paper, I can see the Bills actually improving next season. I think the offense will be better and more consistent. Besides Allen and Dawkins, the heart of the offense are all young players in Brown, Torrence, Shakir, Kincaid and Cook who should continue to improve. On defense it's much the same story. Oliver, Milano and T Johnson are the core, but they received a significant lift from improving kids Benford, Benard, and Rousseau.

6 playoff appearances in 7 seasons after not appearing in the playoffs for 17 years. 4 straight division titles after not winning the division title since 1995. That's why he gets a pass so far. Also he brought in All-pro caliber players like Hyde, Poyer, Morse, and Diggs. He also drafted current starters Kincaid, Oliver, Torrence, Cook, Allen, Shakir, Rousseau, Brown, Taron Johnson, and Benford, plus solid role players like Epenesa, Phillips (now a starter on his new team), Davis, Knox, Singletary, Moss, Dane Jackson and Neal. Face-it, Beane has done a very good job, and has been the Bills best GM since Polian.

Fiske is the highest rated player on my board remaining. I love Lassiter, but I don't think CB is a position of need this early in the draft with Benford and Douglas as the starters and my belief that management still has hopes for Elam. Drafting Lassiter here would be a statement that Elam was a wasted draft pick. There are also good corners to be had later in the draft. I also like Trice, Kneeland and Bullock here, but safety would be best in the 3rd if Beane can find us a pick there.

The key is it doesn't matter any longer who gets the lions shares of the targets or yards. Allen has finally been let out of Diggs jail. He can now scan the field and throw to whomever is open without worrying that Diggs is going to be whining on the sidelines. Brady's plan next season is to spread the ball around like GB did last season. GB's was lead in receiving yards last season on a game by game basis by 9 different skills players (5 different WRs, 2 different TEs and 2 different RBs). The Bills did have 5 different leaders by year's end, but that was only because Brady starting distributing the ball. Diggs was the leading receiver 5 of the first 6 weeks, but only twice the remainder of the season.

Hill lead the NFL in 20+ yard plays last season with 57. He accomplished that on 119 receptions and 171 targets (1799 yards & 13 TDs). That's about one explosive play for every 2 catches and one explosive play every 3 targets. Diggs had 19 on 160 targets. Shakir had 17 last season on 39 catches and 45 targets. That's one explosive play on every 2.3 catches and amazingly it's one explosive play for every 2.7 targets. My guess is these numbers helped make Beane's decision to move on from Diggs a little easier.

No, just no. Did anyone here watch him play at Mich or Tenn? The guy isn’t good. Both Mich and Tenn thought they could mold the athlete into a QB and couldn’t. He is a terrible version of Anthony Richardson and Richardson is also lousy. The idea of drafting a developmental QB is a good one, but Milton is not the right guy. Travis from FSU seems like a better option.

I understand where this is coming from, but I disagree as to the receivers. You can't hold on to declining aging players forever. Davis caught 55% of his targets. Diggs 67% overall, but 62% after week 6. Beane kept the 3 players that caught 80% plus in Shakir, Kincaid and Cook. He brought in a proven slot player in Samuel and now has the opportunity to upgrade Davis with a 1st rd talent. To me it looks like Allen is going to have a younger, faster and more talented overall group of pass catchers than he has ever had while in the NFL. How much better would the Bills have been had Diggs & Davis caught the ball at even a 70% clip? The math says easily another 10-12 catches and about 150 yards. Those yards might have won us the Philly game or one of the other close games earlier in the season. As to the offensive line, I was in your camp before the off-season. I am not fully on board with moving McGovern to center. However, Beane & Co, must truly believe that McGovern can be effective there and as others have pointed out there were issues on the line at the point of attack between McGovern and Morse.

Bills add more OL help in vet La'al Collins. 33rd move of the off-season so far. New Players (10) - Trubisky, Marrow, Hillins, Samuel, Toohill, M Edwards, Clapp, A Johnson, De Williams & Collins Returnees (8) - D Edwards, Haack, Rapp, Morris, Lewis, Epenesa, Jones, & Ty Johnson Extensions (2) - Dawkins & Ta Johnson Restructures (5) - McGovern, Douglas, Miller, Knox, & Allen Releases/Trades (8) - Diggs (HOU), Bates (CHI), White (LAR), Poyer (MIA), Morse (JAC), Neal (MIA), Harty & Hines (CLE) Other roster changes from 2023: UFAs signed elsewhere (8): Davis (Jac), Floyd (SF), D Jackson (CAR), Settle (HOU), Dodson (SEA), Ford (LAC), Sherfield (MIN), and K Allen (PIT) UFAs unsigned (7): Hyde, Phillips, Matakevich, Harris (retired), Joseph, Murray & Lawson The 46 player depth chart looks like this (Starter) Specialists - Bass (PK), Haack (P) & Ferguson (LS) - I think Haack beats out Martin Offense QB - Allen & Trubisky RB - Cook, Ty Johnson, DRAFT PICK, Gilliam WR -Shakir, Samuel, DRAFT PICK, Hollins, Shorter & possible 2nd draft pick TE - Kincaid, Knox & Morris OL - Brown, Dawkins, D. Edwards, McGovern, Torrence, Van Demark, Clapp, Anderson, Collins & DRAFT PICK Defense DL - Rousseau, Oliver, Jones, Miller, Epenesa, DS Williams, Jonathan, Toohill, A. Johnson & DRAFT PICK LB- Milano, Benard, Do Williams, Spector, & Morrow CB - Ta Johnson, Benford, Douglas, Elam, Lewis (S) & DRAFT PICK S - M. Edwards, Rapp, Hamlin & DRAFT PICK

The NFL stands for Not For Long for a reason. Players come and go all time. 2024 will be remember for the year the Bills transitioned from older declining players, most of which came from other teams, to younger, cheaper home grown talent. Out with Poyer, Diggs, Morse, Hyde, Davis and White. Only Davis & White were Bills draftees. Now the core of the team is home grown players like Allen, Cook, Kincaid, Benard, Torrence, Dawkins, Brown, Shakir, Rousseau, Oliver, Benford, Milano and T Johnson. This team is younger, cheaper and honestly has more upside than the aging veteran team that was just let go. Will that potential come to fruition as early as the 2024 season? Don’t know, but I’m significantly more optimistic about the team’s long-term future today than I was on Tuesday.

CJ Stroud - 2023’s NFL O Rookie of the Year. Is Diggs going to be the 3rd or 4th target in Houston behind Collins, Dell, and TE Schultz?

https://theathletic.com/5389671/2024/04/04/buffalo-bills-stefon-diggs-trade-texans/

One small point of clarification. Diggs was going to cost us nearly 28 in cap this season. Trading him costs us 31 million (or only 3 million more this season), but saves 27 million in 2025. The Bills are still 4+ under the cap even after this move and will be about $12 mill under on June 1 after the draft picks are signed. I agree with the OP that this offense has the opportunity to be significantly more dynamic next season. I’ve talked about GB before with their 4 excellent young WRs and 2 good young TEs who make it near impossible for defenses to focus on any one player in the passing game. The Bills now have a similar opportunity. Brady and Allen can redistribute the 300 targets that went to Diggs, Davis, Harty and Sherfiled among Samuel and the kids and give Allen the green light to throw to the open guy. No favorites. Kincaid, Cook and Shakir proved last year if you throw to them they’ll catch it. They each caught over 80% plus of the balls thrown their way. Davis and Diggs were a combined 63% on 241 targets. Now add a dynamic WR talent from the draft, and I think we’ll see Josh running less and complete a significantly higher % in 2024 than in recent years. Assuming everyone stays relatively healthy I see Kincaid going over 1000 yards on 125 targets (95 receptions) Cook jumps to 50 catches from 44 for 500 yards Draftee replaces Davis with 750 yards on about 45 catches on 65 targets Shakir doubles his targets to about 90 with 70 receptions for 925 yards Samuel adds another 700 yards on 58 catches on 80 targets

Beane has been a step ahead of the fans, media and so called experts all off-season. He signed Samuel which made zero sense to me at the time, if the intent was to keep Shakir in the slot. However then I did a physical comparison between Diggs and Shakir and then compared their explosive plays and I realized that Beane may try Shakir on the outside. I still didn't love the Samuel signing because I felt we needed at least one big and fast receiver to replace Davis. I didn't make sense to me that you'd draft a guy like Mitchell or Worthy to not give them an immediate opportunity to start. However, now Diggs is gone and the master plan is revealed. Shakir replaces Diggs, Samuel replaces Shakir in the slot, the 28th pick will be used on a Davis replacement and Kincaid will become a huge focal point of the offense. With Diggs, Davis, Harty and Sherfield gone, there are about 300 targets up for grabs. It will be interesting to see of Brady and Allen distribute those targets. Brady had 4 guys with 1000+ yards from scrimmage in his year in Carolina (Samuel, RB Davis and 2 other WRs). How many will be have in an offense more evenly featuring 5 good to excellent playmakers rather than just Diggs and the RB?

I tend to not post about players I don't believe in. As a Bills and UGA fan, I post about players I believe fit with the Bills and should be available when the Bills draft. I haven't commented on Lassiter and Mims for example because I don't think they fit with the Bills needs or will be available when the Bills draft (or both). However if you want to know some issues with McConkey, Mitchell and Bullard, here they are. McConkey seems a little fragile to me. He seems to get nicked up. I also think he'll be best utilized against zone type defenses or in the slot in the NFL. Mitchell, on the other hand, I really like in one on one battles for the football, however I think his route running could use some polish. The injury and size issues are why I like Mitchell over McConkey in the draft despite Ladd being more productive in college. As to Bullard, my biggest issue with him is his height. I'd love him to be more the size of Bullock. I also thought his coverage skill were just ok, but he made huge strides in coverage last season going from QB having a rating about 87 against in 2022 to 36 last season. I also think he relies to much on his speed to cover up positional mistakes, but that also improved significantly last season.

You admit my comments are true but then dismiss them because of my alleged "bias." Should we dismiss everyone here's comments on Bills players because they're biased? I have spoken about UGA players because I have strong first hand knowledge. I am a fan, but my comments are from direct observation of their play. I have seen Legette, Bowers, Mitchell, Burton and McConkey play live on a variety of occasions. Burton played at Georgia as well, but I don't remember pounding the table for him. Do you? I also don't comment I players that I don't have good knowledge about. Have you seen me comment Chop Robinson or other guys projected to the Bills at 28, except maybe to say I think will the Bills will go WR over Edge. Also what in my comments about McConkey, Mitchell, Bullard, Bowers and even Van Pran aren't accurate and haven't been confirmed from the stats or other sources? Didn't Mitchell catch a TD in all 5 CFP games he played? Wasn't Bullard the MVP of multiple CFP games? Wasn't Van Pran a 2nd team All-American and 1st team all-SEC? Don't various "experts" have all these players amongst the highest rated at their positions in the draft? Last I looked Georgia was 42-2 the last 3 seasons with 2 National Titles, 25 players drafted the last 2 drafts (including a record 15 in 2022) with another 10 players likely to be drafted in 2024. Maybe it's not bias, but just first hand knowledge about good to great players I have been fortunate enough to see play every week. https://www.espn.com/nfl/draft/bestavailable Here is a link to ESPN's best available for the draft. They have Bowers (11th overall), Mims (22nd), Mitchell (23rd), McConkey (29th), Lassiter (46th), and Bullard 49th. Personally, I'd also much prefer to hear from someone who has actually watched a prospect play and then someone who dismisses a player out of hand because they didn't have a 1000 yard season in their college career. That's real bias. Name one!

You have clearly never watched the kid play in person. What does 1000 yards have to do with drafting a college WR? Diggs never approached 1000 yards in college. Mitchell's freshman year at UGA the WR/TE room had Mitchell, Pickens (Pitt 2nd rd), McConkey, Bowers, Burton, Darnell Washington (3rd rd Pitt), and Kearis Jackson (Ten). The running backs included Cook (2nd rd Buf), McIntosh (7th rd Sea), and Zamir White (4th rd LVR). Burton, Bowers, Mitchell and McConkey will all go in the top 3 rounds in 2024. That's a huge amount of talent and Mitchell was 4th in receptions and yards. His second year he was hurt most of the year and worked his butt off to be ready for the end of the season and the CFP games. He caught a TD in all 5 CFP games he played in his career. The kid left UGA to be closer to home and his daughter. There is nothing wrong with the kids attitude or work ethic and his talent is off the charts.

He has a daughter and she was living in Texas. https://www.profootballnetwork.com/why-did-ad-mitchell-transfer-draft/ I want Mitchell in the draft, but I love Ladd McConkey. I've watched Bowers, Burton, McConkey, Mitchell, and Rosemy-Jacksaint in person many times. Mitchell and McConkey are simply game breakers. Ladd can turn a dump off into a 60 yard TD run. Mitchell has the ability to beat CB's deep, but also the ability to get separation in the end zone. Either guy would make the Bills better immediately. I also love the idea of Jacksaint as a 7th round flyer. The kid isn't the fastest, but he has excellent hands, run very good routes and has a knack for making important catches. With Kincaid, we don't need Bowers, but he is the most dynamic TE I've ever seen in college.

FYI on DIggs last season Games 1-6 49 catches on 66 targets for 620 yards and 5 TDs. Catch % 74.24%; Yards/C 12.65 Games 7-19 68 catches on 111 targets for 636 yards and 3 TDS. Catch % 61.26%; yards/c 9.35

I guess Draft Kings got wind of the deal before the media did. I hope you didn't make the Diggs staying in Buffalo bet. More proof why I don't gamble.