Sierra Foothills

It's more than just that. Colts owner Jim Irsay looks to me like he's been on tilt since the two game, season-ending swoon which cost his team a playoff berth. Some recent quotes: "Colts Nation, don't you worry ... We're gonna get The Horseshoe at least two Lombardis this decade. As sure as the sun rises and the seasons change, it's coming! Don't you ever doubt that, ever! You will see greatness! Believe and you will see." “Here in the desert now. And feeling the pain and disappointment from this season. It certainly is something where I apologize for. And we have allowed, and I have allowed, doubt, fear, and a lack of faith to slip into our DNA. And it will not stand.” “Every walking step in this offseason is committed to getting the horseshoe back to where it should be,” Irsay added. “We understand what happens and I understand what happens, and it’s unacceptable. I promise you one thing. Anyone walking into the 56th Street complex this year will be walking in with all chips in. Period. If you don’t want to put all your chips in on the table for winning the next one, then don’t walk in the building.” “This commitment starts with me,” Irsay concluded. “It starts with my self-analysis. And I can tell all of Colts nation this is something that every day, every hour, every minute we’re working to fix. It’s unacceptable, and it will not stand. Thank you.” Irsay has a "win at all costs" attitude which is not a bad thing for an NFL owner. The problem is that he has a "win at all costs today" attitude which is not conducive to good team building. It almost seems like he's stuck in the mindset of believing the Colts are just one good player away. They're not.

I'm sure the Bills had a price on Nelson and possibly even a standing offer. I believe the Bills have prices on and probably offers out to other free agents CBs. Aside from Stephon Gilmore, Joe Hayden, Trae Waynes, Kyle Fuller, Chris Harris, Janoris Jenkins, Bryce Callahan, Jason Verrett, AJ Bouye, Xavier Rhodes, Greg Mabin and numerous other veteran CBs are still unsigned. While it's a foregone conclusion the Bills will draft a CB they'll also likely sign a veteran free agent. It could happen before the draft or shortly afterwards. There's enough of a glut that the Bills don't have to overpay or rush a free agent CB signing.

Is there any present-day equivalent to the guys who used to do the Youtube channel DraftBreakDown? It seems like maybe some of their people moved on to FFAstronauts... As BADOL posted upstream with the Jordan Phillips vs Clemson video you would be able to watch every snap by a player in a game, which is infinitely more valuable than watching a highlight video. The videos would visually highlight the subject player or players before each snap and then let the play roll. Anyone know of any football geeks that do this kind of video?

This is the best response to the question. I would add that you have to view these on a case by case basis. For instance on the surface the Edmunds and Poyer situations might appear to be similar but only those in the organization would have a good idea of how well it would be received if the team drafted a rookie and traded away the veteran in either of these cases.

Again, my statements are not about whether Edmunds is worth keeping or not. Nor are my statements about whether he is a good player or not. I'm NOT addressing those questions. I'm questioning what effect if any replacing him with a rookie linebacker and trading him away might have on the locker room. Some here are arguing that it wouldn't have much negative effect but those same people are basing their opinion on their own belief that Edmunds isn't any good. That opinion is irrelevant. What's relevant is how valuable his teammates believe Edmunds is.

I considered what you wrote before my first post and had two thoughts: 1) I think it's more likely that his teammates view Edmunds more highly than you do. 2) There's 2 scenarios... drafting his eventual replacement and (per the original post) drafting his immediate replacement and trading Edmunds away. My concerns regard the second scenario where a rookie replaces a team captain before a season in which the team is supposedly all in on a Super Bowl victory. In this latter scenario I can definitely imagine a lot of surprise and bewilderment amongst the players... basically a WTF? reaction.

Last week I posted this: NFL fans tend to overreact to pretty much everything. The majority of this board was writing off Singletary last offseason. Moss had a good college career and a promising rookie campaign. This year he has to compete against Duke Johnson for snaps. I could easily see Moss having a bounce back season where he plays significant snaps in a contributing role. Whether it's Moss or Duke (or Singletary) I believe the Bills will see greater contributions from their number two running back this year than they have so far under the McBeane Administration.

Moving on from Edmunds is similar to the idea being floated that the team move on from Jordan Poyer. In each case there are a lot of people here who aren't considering the impact that trading away a respected team leader would have on the locker room. FWIW, Edmunds is a team captain and a guy the Bills traded up to pick in the 1st round. He's been an exemplary teammate, doing everything expected and asked of him within his powers. If the Bills are so coldly calculating as to trade away a respected veteran leader for the promise of a rookie, isn't that risky in terms of the locker room ripple effect?

You seem like you're pretty young. You guys are 100% correct... knowing what caused Haskins' death won't fix anything. People still pull out of the mall parking lot with their baby in the infant carrier on the car roof. People still leave their pets in the car with the windows closed on 90 degree days. Knowing what caused Haskins' death won't save a single life. That's not how the world works. I'm sure he was told as a kid to look both ways before he crossed the street.

Apparently the idea of a remark being "tongue in cheek" is being missed by some. Of course Howard knew Allen was the Bills QB, the Bills played the Bucs in an epic OT struggle in week 13. However I'm not sure why he had to "look at it on paper" as far as judging how good a team the Bills are.

The "Face of the Franchise" is getting wrinkles... Happy Birthday Isaiah!

Great work, thank you. In the other thread it was mentioned that in the last two years the Bills have only drafted one player who was in their Top 30 visits. I'm not sure if that is accurate but it definitely doesn't align with your point F). Hmmm it seems to me that many more of the Bills high draft picks have played immediately than have been brought along slowly.

I agree that if Howard had a "I want to be a starter mentality" at the beginning of free agency it shows a stunning lack of awareness of his own market value. Then again if he didn't know Josh played on the Bills this would make more sense.

Yes, exactly. There are so many accurate ways to portray a person. The occasion of a person's death is not the time to portray someone negatively.

Maybe but I'd rather take a guy who's good one on one and try to convert him to zone than visa versa. And I love Booth. First of all thank you for updating the list. Also it sure seems that the visits by position reflect what all of us believe are the Bills' biggest needs. Have you watched any of the video on Booth or have you only read about him? Well, that's interesting.

Particularly for a non-playoff game, this was a great game indeed. Also the NFL's Greatest Comeback (Houston-Bills) also has to be on the short list of greatest games. If you add Allen vs Mahomes, the Bills were involved in 3 of the greatest games of all time. Besides the 1958 NFL Championship Game (Colts-Giants) the 1982 Divisional Round game (Chargers-Dolphins) is most often mentioned as a candidate for greatest game ever. In fact it's known as "The Epic in Miami." "Winslow caught a playoff record 13 passes for 166 yards and a touchdown, while also blocking a field goal with seconds remaining to send the game to overtime in one of the greatest single player efforts in NFL history. Winslow's yardage total stood as the playoff record for tight ends for 30 years until Vernon Davis's 180 yards in 2012. What made Winslow's performance all the more memorable was that fact during the game he was treated for a pinched nerve in his shoulder, dehydration, severe cramps, and received three stitches in his lower lip. After the game, a picture of Winslow being helped off the field by his teammates became an enduring image in NFL lore."

That's interesting. I wonder if the above is generic file footage or proximate to the actual accident scene. The problem with characterizing Haskins as "troubled" is because that claim is pretty arbitrary, subjective and arguably negative. Consider one could also write: "Haskins was a very accomplished young man who set both Big Ten and Ohio State records for passing yards, total offense, and touchdowns. He was named the MVP of the 2019 Rose Bowl as well as that year's Big Ten Championship game and was drafted 15th overall that year. At the time of his death Haskins was preparing to compete for the Steelers starting QB position." What makes you think he wasn't walking to the nearest exit? And while you bring it up, is walking anywhere in that landscape a good idea versus waiting for LE and tow vehicles to arrive? What did he have to gain by walking as opposed to simply waiting in as safe a place as he could find?

Interestingly the average draft position of the 19 players on this list is 17.11 but none of them were drafted between picks 12 and 24. Of the 8 that were chosen at/before pick 12, the average draft position was 6.75. Those teams were shooting for an "elite" running back Of the 11 that were chosen at/after pick 24. the average draft position was 28.3. Those teams were trying to nail the right value. But this discussion is about high-round draft picks... 1st or 2nd round.

If I had something to back it up (like access to Poyer's WAR for instance... but I don't pay for that sort of stuff) I would have mentioned it. As it is we're beginning to split hairs here. You theorize 14 points over the course of a season? A possible loss? Fair enough. That is exactly the sort of calculus the Bills have to do here. Their valuation should be based on WAR and also the possibility that something like losing home field advantage could happen and what the worst-case scenario of that could be. As discussed above, the possible drop-off may or may not be "ok." Lots of people on our board are more than happy to take that risk in order to save Pegula from spending more of his money. As you say, if the Bills can spend that money elsewhere and it has a better overall impact than spending that money on Poyer, then it's worth it. However if people want to save the money just to have it handy for "someone else later," that's more questionable because in that scenario you're not using the money to improve the team. And it's important to keep in mind that this is supposed to be a Super Bowl or bust season.

In the Ryan Bates thread I brought up WAR, Wins Above Replacement. I definitely think Poyer is worth at least one win more than Hamlin or Johnson. And why would you pay him that much if he's no better than Hamlin or Johnson? As a GM you're always trying to pay for the "true value" of the player. If Poyer gets 3/26 that means he's a pretty good player. I agree that his current contract doesn't dictate his future one but I'm sure the infamous Miss Bush disagrees.

I'm not saying that Poyer has to be re-signed at any and all costs. I am saying that some here are dismissing his contributions to the team, as if he's a generic plug and play guy. Poyer is a very good player and a respected veteran leader. If he departed before the 2022 season, it would undo a lot of the gains the team has made this offseason, both from a personnel and a morale standpoint. It will be interesting to see how the team handles this somewhat sensitive situation.

I think reducing the Bills perennial secondary success to scheme is an oversimplification. You still need good football players to have a good team. If it was as simple as playing a DB friendly scheme every team would have a good secondary.

You heard this where?