BigAl2526

Listening to Sal Capaccio on WGR, I understand Benford was well grounded in a defensive system that was very similar to what the Bills use. Elam played mostly man. Benford has the benefit of good football intelligence despite his small school background. He doesn't make too many mistakes. Elam is the more elite athlete, and that will enable him to make some plays that Benford never will, but he's probably not going to be as consistent as Benford for a while yet. That's how I see this developing. BTW, Dane Jackson has the advantage of experience over the other two, but is the most limited athlete of the three. I think it is inevitable that Benford or Elam, or perhaps both of them overtake Jackson on the depth chart if they aren't there yet.

So, the Jets should be defended with tight coverage and early pressure. What you can't do is a loose zone with CBs lining up 10 - 15 yards deep.

Hines was going to be used primarily as a return specialist. Taiwan Jones never returned punts or kicks. Darrynton Evans is a returner.

My recollection is that Knox was very athletic coming out of college with high end speed. The knock on him was lack of productivity and experience. He had been a QB in high school and was very much underutilized at Ole Miss because the WRs at Ole Miss were DK Metcalf and AJ Brown.

An upgrade from Morris. His college scouting report says he as OK speed though he's not fast. He runs routes like a receiver, is a bit undersized and not a great blocker. He's not an awful blocker, but it's an area where he needed to improve. He's quality depth though. I imagine he could start in a pinch and not be an embarrassment.

His primary value to the Bills would have been as a returner. He would have had relatively few carries as a running back. I imagine the Bills will look for a free agent who could fill that role and has a little speed. There are probably some guys out there who could do it, though obviously less talented than Hines.

Because the Patriots have been so good the last few years. Oh wait.

Interesting. I don't pay much attention to Vegas. I was going by what I see in the media. I think a lot of people are starting to write off the Bills because they've gotten stuck in the playoffs in the divisional round.

140 mph? Wow. And I was worried before the draft that he wasn't very fast.

Has anyone really said he's slow. Devin Singletary was pretty slow. So was Zach Moss. James Cook is not slow in anybody's world.

Maybe less productive, but not less effective. Less productive because it might mean fewer touches for running backs. As effective because I think yards per carry can be as good or better than an offense with a "pocket" QB.

It's going to be interesting. The Chiefs, Eagles and Bengals are pretty much the consensus choice for the top three teams in the league, and Buffalo plays all three on their home turf. Buffalo will learn during the season whether or not it has a chance to win the Super Bowl or not. Beat one or two of those teams during the season, and we have ample reason for optimism.

I think the USFL is going to maintain a limited salary structure for players. That will keep its expenses at a manageable level. I don't think the USFL will be a major channel for talent, but I think there are always a few players who might not be ready for the NFL coming out of college, but have enough talent and simply need a little more time to develop. There is a niche that the USFL can fill, and there are probably enough football hungry fans around to support a presence on TV. Bottom line: I think it's here to stay in the near future. After 15 or 20 years, who knows.

I think Knox may still have some upside. If Kincaid lives up to the hype and the hope Bills fans have pinned on him, the Bills could end up with one of the top TE duos in the league.

That's kind of where I'm at.

I can see Dean Marlowe being a cut. In fact I expect it as I think Buffalo carries four safeties: Poyer, Hyde, Rapp and Hamlin. I would be shocked if any of the others on the list are cut.

After cut downs, the safeties for the Bills will in all likelihood be Hyde, Poyer, Rapp and Hamlin. After Poyer and Hyde, I still don't think the Bills have safeties that I want as the long term starters. Yeah, Rapp has good size and is a big hitter, but he's poor in coverage and lacks even average speed for a safety. Almost any receiver who gets behind him is going to score, and he has less room for error than most defensive backs in the angles he takes toward ball carriers. Hamlin is listed at 200 lbs, a mere 8 lbs less than Rapp. Scouting reports on Hamlin coming out of college suggest he's also challenged in the speed department. He was said to be good in the short zone and in run support but challenged in deep zone and man coverage. He also bites on fakes and tends to commit too soon sometimes. I'm sure he has worked on his weak points in his time with the Bills, but he's nowhere near Poyer and Hyde in his skill set or his football intelligence. I'm pretty sure the Bills will be looking outside the team for the eventual successors to Hyde and Poyer over the next off season or three.

Hall of Fame careers for QBs depend a lot on stats, but there are some other factors that go into the mix. On big one is Super Bowl appearances and wins. Peyton Manning has them. To this point, Josh Allen doesn't. He might get into the Hall of Fame without that jewel in his crown but it would be much more of a sure thing if he had some by the end of his career.

OJ Simpson is the reason I became a Bills fan. Since the end of his career, he's shown himself to be a despicable person. I don't wish him ill, but I have little sympathy.

Taylor had a useful skill set. I didn't hate him. However, I thought his ceiling was not high enough to enable the Bills to ever be a serious threat to do anything in the playoffs, or perhaps even to make the playoffs. For that reason, I was never opposed to getting rid of him if the Bills could find a QB with a higher ceiling. Fortunately, they did.

I think Himes could do some good things if he had more opportunities, but at this point I think the coaching staff has decided to use him primarily on special teams for his return abilities.

I think Cook starts. I think Elam is in the competition, but I think the competition is real with Jackson and Benford. I think McDermott places great trust in experience, and Jackson has by far the most experience of the three. Elam has to prove he's better than both Benford and Jackson, and the difference has to be noticeable. I think Shakir is a long shot to start. Gabe Davis really needs to drop the ball (literally and figuratively) for Shakir to get a shot. I think the coaching staff still believe in Davis. Beane certainly does. By the way, Shakir wasn't any more sure handed than Davis last season. Slot receiver is going to be greatly devalued this upcoming season IMO as Kincaid is going to fill that role. He'll be a tight end playing slot receiver for the most part.

If the games were home games for Buffalo, it might hurt ticket sales for the Sabres pre-season game but that wouldn't be a big deal. I don't expect that the Sabres depend of a lot of revenue from pre-season ticket sales anyway. Washington is enough larger as a market, I don't even know that it would move the needle in Washington Capital ticket sales.

This is good news as long as Josh Allen himself is OK with the ranking. The more QBs get paid, the higher it will drive the cap. The higher the cap goes, the smaller the percentage of Buffalo's cap will go toward paying Josh Allen. The smaller the percentage of Buffalo's cap being spent on Josh Allen, the more money is available to sign quality players to maintain team excellence and keep playoff aspirations intact.

If you read the article carefully, while it says his 40 time and broad jump compare with the best ever at the combine at that position ((TE) it doesn't actually specify that he achieved those measurements at the combine. I'm guessing he had a pro day somewhere. Since St Thomas is a division III school, they probably don't have a college wide pro day. Perhaps he hooked up with a nearby Division 1 school for his pro day. I presume he tried out and did well in the tryouts for the teams where he's been signed, the same way he landed a spot on the Bills.