BillsFanForever19

You could be right. My definitive wording of "only" was probably a mistake. Though it is possible that their focus is on the highest possible pick they can get over accepting a pick that they perceive to be of a lower value plus another pick. But ultimately, even if that idea is correct in a vacuum, I think trading a 4th and a 5th in 2026 plus a 4th in 2027 is a worse option than just beating it with a 3rd. Three picks for a half year of a player like Rashid Shaheed is madness.

First off, I've said this a million times already, but the price wouldn't have been a 4th and a 5th for us. If New Orleans has the option of a 4th and 5th from Seattle or from us - they're going to take (and did take) Seattle's. Our record is the same, yes, but historically we make it further than they do and consistently pick below them. And we have a team led by Josh Allen. So for us to get him, we would have had to have beat Seattle's offer. Which we could only do with a 3rd. But beyond that, I think the even bigger issue was that it was 2 picks in the coming Draft. If it were a pick in 2026 and a pick in 2027, that would have been more palatable. But in a year where we only have 7, dropping 2 of them and only having 5 picks is rough. Especially for a guy you only have for half of a season that is more of a role player than a #1 WR.

I saw him run down the field to get in on a tackle. Was impressed to see a big man run someone down in the flat from behind. After going in the 2nd Round, he tore his meniscus in his left knee in the season opener and missed his entire Rookie year. Then he had a bad calf injury in Training Camp and and was once again put on IR until November for his 2nd season. His third year he stayed healthy and played in 12 games but was waived by Washington as a "Draft Bust". The Jets claimed him, but cut him after Training Camp as they had a pretty stacked DT core. This is essentially his shot to show the injuries are a thing of the past and prove he isn't a bust. It's a very similar idea to us giving Jordan Phillips a shot in 2018 after the Dolphins declared him a 2nd Round bust. Except Mathis had to earn it from the Practice Squad. Said it in another thread, but I find it telling that they signed him while he still had one more activation left over a guy like Zion Logue who has been with the team longer and has no more activations. Hopefully the story goes the same way it did for Phillips. It would be a wild story if he went from a 2nd Rounder in 2022 to his career on the line on a Practice Squad in 2025, but through hard work and 3 injuries at DT - got his 2nd chance and reclaimed what his career was supposed to be.

Everyone likes to question Strength & Conditioning but one thing i've started to wonder about is if McDermott pushes guys too hard throughout the week. On top of the injuries week to week, we seem to have a lot of injuries occur outside of Game Day.

So they initially released Kristian Wilkerson alongside Jimmy Ciarlo, and having an active roster spot opened up by Hoecht's IR. But it seems like it was a procedural move to sign Jonathan and Couch on before they moved Mathis to the 53. He's now back:

I admittedly didn't analyze him play to play. But the fact that our Defensive Line played as well as it did against the Chiefs while he was in for 14 snaps and that they chose to sign him over Zion Logue, even though we still had 1 activation left on Mathis and don't have any with Logue is telling. They must have liked what they saw from him in Practice and when he was in for his elevations against the Patriots and Chiefs. That said (barring injuries), I have to imagine he moves back to the Practice Squad (if he clears Waivers) in 2-3 weeks when T.J. Sanders is ready to return. Unless we want to carry 6 DT's (which we have done before) or he proves to be more valuable than Jordan Phillips.

Yet he wasn't traded to anyone. Which means one of two things to me - either that "2nd" they reported was inaccurate or they simply weren't interested in moving him, when push came to shove. I find it quite frankly incredibly unlikely that if he was actively being shopped for a 2nd that there wasn't a single team amongst 31 teams that was interested.

That would imply you need to have someone close to the best RB in football as your 2nd or 3rd RB. Anyone who has an Elite RB has this problem. If you have someone like a Cook or a Taylor, you're going to have a massive dropoff if they go down. League wide, 2nd or 3rd RB's are fairly unimpressive ball carriers. Like the best situations league wide are going from Bijan Robinson to Tyler Allgier or from Christian McCaffrey to Brian Robinson. And like having a decent Backup QB, these are outliers. Most teams with good to very good RB's go from a James Cook to a Ty Johnson or Ray Davis.

My favorite response I got when arguing against the angry mob (and I think you were there for it and may have replied) was "Ty Johnson is our Best All Around RB".

I keep seeing people saying this and it drives me insane: Like do people think that you make an offer to a team and it's just the first team that makes the offer just gets the player? Like the Saints would be like "Hold on Seattle - I know historically your picks are better, you're out of the Playoffs before Buffalo, and your QB isn't named Josh Allen. But Buffalo got here first and we have to give him to them bc of that"? It wouldn't have cost us a 4th and 5th. We'd have to pay more than Seattle bc their picks are presumed better.

He doesn't suck. But he also doesn't perform at a level where we should be keeping him instead of saving 10 million in Cap Space. Like I said, on the open market at 29 years old with the kind of production he gives us - he'd be lucky to make much more than a 3rd of that. If we were in better shape cap wise or Draft Pick wise and didn't have the kind of Free Agents we have - I could understand a pay cut that would have us paying a little more than he's worth and saving a little less than what we'd get cutting him. But we're not in that shape and 10 mil is just too much to pass up. People said the same thing about Tre. He's too loved by everyone in the locker room. That only goes so far in business.

Weren't you saying he wasn't a 3 Down Back? 😱

Maybe? I just remember hearing his fall was in part due to that he was considered a Zone Specific CB Prospect. Which made him great for us, but not for everyone.