BillsFanForever19

That combined with Signing Hoecht and spending the 74th Pick in the Draft on Jackson. We had 2 DE's going out in Von and Smoot and have 3 DE's coming in with Bosa, Hoecht, and Jackson. Our moves at Defensive End (outside of Camp Body Practice Squad candidates) are completed for the Offseason.

I really can't. Unless you want to cut Solomon, which I wouldn't do for Von. And kinda defeats the purpose of mentoring the younger players. We have a full stack of 5 at DE with Groot, Bosa, AJE, Jackson, and Solomon. Bosa is going to be our situational Pass Rusher that really won't exceed 50% of snaps and will probably be under that. I don't see us handing Jackson essentially a Starting role out of the gate. I see him rotating in on both sides of the line when needed to get his sea legs under him as a Rookie. In Groot, Bosa, AJE, and Jackson tho - we have a talented person cycling in on each side of the line at all times. Removing Epenesa for Von is a downgrade. And removing Solomon, of which we don't know what he could or couldn't develop into, for Von which we do at this point in his career - would be a mistake in my eyes. As it is, we'll need to find a place for Hoecht after Week 6. It's likely he'll just be slid on to the roster from an injury that occurs over the first 6 weeks. But long story short, we've got 5 guys now. Potentially 6 when Hoecht returns (if everyone remains healthy). We really don't have a place for a 6th now or potentially a 7th then. If we hadn't Drafted Jackson and signed Bosa or Hoecht - I could see a reunion. But since we did all 3 of those things, I think the Von reunion ship has sailed. Save for multiple injuries occuring mid season and him still being without a team then. Which is not something we want to have happen.

It was his ROOKIE SEASON. You're acting like 885 yards and 8 TD's in Year 1 makes him a bust. Did you Draft the guy in Fantasy in Round 1 or something?

I think we have a philosophical difference of opinion. And one that requires hindsight after a number of years. It's like when people say the Bills were stupid for Drafting Sammy Watkins instead of Mike Evans. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that Evans easily turned into the better NFL WR. But during the Draft, was it considered dumb to take Watkins instead of Evans? No - on the contrary, it would have been shocking as Watkins was considered far and away the better prospect. Just like even though BTJ had the better Rookie campaign, people would have thought Arizona lost their minds if they took him over MHJ.

Personally, when I hear "overhyped" when it comes to a Prospect, to me that implies that the level of talent evaluated from College was blown out of proportion. That's definitely not the case with MHJ. I think Draft "hype" and what the player becomes at the next level are two separate things. The NCAA and the NFL are different animals. There's any number of reasons on and off the field that a guy might not translate to the next level. For example, Sammy Watkins was a bust. But do I think he was overhyped as a Prospect coming into the NFL? No, I don't.

I don't think he's aware of the recent rules for Hard Knocks changing and is assuming based upon the old rules. But it wouldn't surprise me if people other than McDermott wanted it. Specifically the Owners. I don't think it's fair to say that they volunteered. I also don't think it's fair to say that they were forced. Right now, we don't really know. Unless Eisen knows something we don't.

I love how if someone who is a big time prospect coming out of College doesn't light the world on fire as a Rookie, they were "overhyped". Even if he busts out, that doesn't change the kind of generational talent prospect he was coming out of College.

Interesting. So they DID revise the rules. I kind of figured that was the case with them doing multiple last year with the Bears in Training Camp and the Ravens in the Playoffs. And it may have been a scenario where they wanted to avoid being the Playoffs team this year. I still say that the Bills may not have had to have their arm twisted too much to do it this season. Maybe McDermott, but I could def see a scenario where Pegula would want that paycheck and more eyes on the team nationally as they build the new stadium.

If they are still going by the rules for teams being put on Hard Knocks (tho it's possible they quietly lifted those), it would imply the Bills wanted to do this. And I could def see a scenario where the Owners would want to even if McDermott isn't a fan. Hard Knocks has featured teams who are moving into new stadiums before. Def possible Pegula wants to raise the profile of the team even more on a National level to get people in the building and/or take a check from Warner Brothers for some extra cash to put towards the bill. If the Owners want it, Warner, and Goodell want it - it really wouldn't matter what McDermott thought.

Honestly, if Cook was thinking of holding out any of Training Camp, this may make him reconsider. This can give him a voice, put his brand out there more to other fanbases across the league, and show teams he's doing the right things and working hard in a tough situation.

I hope they highlight Joey Bosa a bunch. He's a star that I'd bet they'd want to talk to and if they're gonna pull anyone away from stuff for a bit, it should be him. Hell, bubble wrap him for the interviews too.

Hard Knocks always highlights a plucky, unlikely to make the roster player. With the way this board gets with Training Camp and Pre-Season darlings combined with that, i'm not looking forward to the outcty from some posters when they watch that guy get cut on TV.

Dodged it for as long as we could. I know there's supposedly "rules" in place where you can turn it down. But I feel like that may have been quietly changed bc last year they started doing multiple Hard Knocks. Even in the Playoffs with the Ravens. Even if there's technically rules, that doesn't mean if HBO doesn't really want the Bills - Goodell wouldn't put pressure on us to not upset Warner. Or maybe they saw the thing with the Ravens in the Playoffs and went "better Training Camp than the Playoffs".

You know they don't have to wait until June 1st to do that, right? If they wanted to make him a June 1 cut they could do that right now or done it months ago.

Fred Warner is very good. But I wouldn't want to dedicate 21m a year to the Middle Linebacker position. I'm not even the biggest fan of what we paid Terrel Bernard. But i'd rather have Bernard at half the price and be able to put money into more important positions than give that much to Warner.

It's Terrell Owens by far for me. At a time when excitement over anything pretty much didn't exist, arguably the biggest name and most famous player in the NFL coming to Buffalo was crazy.

You seem to be missing the plot and projecting some sort of real world 9-5 issue with the workforce or something? Idk it's really confusing. I've mostly tried to ignore it bc it's not remotely comparable or really has anything to do with the situation. But you keep harping on it, so I guess I'll play along... The NFL is not comparable to an everyday job. There's really no scenario where your employer comes to you and goes "hey, so I need you to do this thing for me and when you're done, I'm going to bring it to my bosses and if it's no good, it's going to get me suspended and cost me millions of dollars. I'm putting it all on you to do and I'm not even going to bother to look it over before I go in there". Best believe in that scenario with so much on the line, they'd take it upon themselves to do, keep an eye on what they're doing, or *at the very least*, look it over before going in and it passing or failing. And in the end, if the employer was so careless as to not do those things, the responsibility and onus would fall on them and they'd be punished for the results, just like Hoecht was. There's no way no matter how you spin this and what you compare it to that Hoecht has no blame, isn't at least an idiot, and at most a cheater. Even if his "employee" was at fault, the ultimate fault and responsibility falls on Hoecht. As it should.

Lol that's fair. I forgot we technically added White at the end of the season so that we could call up more than one player from the PS for the Patriots game and then kept him on bc our roster had room. Outside of that scenario, we haven't kept more than 2 since the year we Drafted Fromm. So i'd expect 2. Just for shiz and gigs, this is my way too early 53 prediction. Going through the roster, I actually only see about 51 I'm sure about. I ended up adding Lewis and Ingram just bc there were two spots left over. I have Shenault beating out Codrington as a Returner, but that's a Wild Card/Hot Take. Players like Trubisky and Hamlin I see the Bills brass liking more than posters do. And with Trubisky v. White, they save relatively the same amount of money on a cut, but there's a 1m+ Dead Cap on Trubisky and no Dead Cap hit on White. QB (Same as last year): Josh Allen #17 Mitch Trubisky #11 RB (Same as last year): James Cook #4 Ray Davis #22 Ty Johnson #26 - Reggie Gilliam #41 WR: Khalil Shakir #10 Josh Palmer #5 Keon Coleman #0 Curtis Samuel #1 Elijah Moore #18 Laviska Shenault #15 (Returner) TE: Dalton Kincaid #86 Dawson Knox #88 Jackson Hawes #85 OL (Same as last year): Dion Dawkins #73 David Edwards #76 Connor McGovern #66 O'Cyrus Torrence #64 Spencer Brown #79 - Sedrick Van Pran-Granger #62 Ryan Van Demark #74 Alec Anderson #70 Tylan Grable #68 DE: Greg Rousseau #50 Joey Bosa #97 AJ Epenesa #57 Landon Jackson #94 Javon Solomon #56 DT: Ed Oliver #91 Daquan Jones #92 T.J. Sanders #98 Deone Walker #96 DeWayne Carter #90 LB (Same as last year): Matt Milano #58 Terrel Bernard #8 Dorian Williams #42 Edefuan Ulofoshio #48 Joe Andreeseen #41 CB: Christian Benford #47 Maxwell Hairston #31 Taron Johnson #7 (NCB) Tre'Davious White #27 Dorian Strong #43 Ja'Marcus Ingram #46 S: Taylor Rapp #9 Cole Bishop #24 Damar Hamlin #3 Jordan Hancock #37 (NCB/S) Cam Lewis #33 (NCB/S) ST: Tyler Bass #2 (K) Jake Camarda #32 (P) Reid Ferguson #69 (LS) But yeah... long story short, it's pretty simple to fit all 10 on the DL and carry extra DB's. What a guy! https://willowcenterny.org/

Smoot and Carter both came back and they still kept the guys they added. Again, 2023 was only 10 bc Von was on PUP. When he came back, they added him and removed no one. So it would have been 11 if he weren't hurt. Either way, you're pointing at 10 to start the year in 23 and 24 v. the 11 they ended with both years to somehow argue... 9? I don't get it. I would literally bet you dollars to donuts that we'll not be keeping 9 to start the year. Again, you can easily do what you're saying at DB and keep 10 DL. It's not that difficult. Like I said, my 53 right now has 10 on the DL and 11 DB's. As for cutting Trubisky and keeping 2 QB's, we haven't carried 3 QB's to start a season since 2020. We generally always carry 2 QB's.

Look harder. In 2024, we ended the season with Groot, Epenesa, Von, Smoot, and Solomon at DE. Oliver, Jones, Johnson, Carter, Phillips, and Jefferson at DT. That's 11. 2023 we ended the season with Groot, Floyd, Von, Epenesa, Shaq, and Jonathan at DE. Oliver, Jones, Settle, Joseph, and Ford at DT. Again, that's 11. The only reason it's 10 in 2023 is bc Von was on PUP. When he came back, they added him and cut no one. And even if they started at 10 (only technically in 2023) and ended at 11 both seasons - the fact still remains, 9 is shorthanded. Especially when you consider a third of them are developing Rookies who have yet to play a down in the NFL. 10 is the bare minimum for how our Defensive Line operates and rotates. As for carrying an extra DB - if you create your own 53 based on the roster we have now, you can easily do both carrying an extra DB and 10 DL. On my 53, I easily fit 10 DL and 11 DB's.

We carry at least 10. We carried 6 DE's in 2023 and 6 DT's in 2024. We carried 11 both seasons, at times in 2023 we carried 12. Guaranteed we keep more than just 9. Beyond just recent history, 9 is not enough for all 4 spots total to cover injuries with how often we rotate. I wouldn't be surprised if they kept all 12 when Hoecht and Ogunjobi return and all 10 are still healthy come Week 8.

There's a number of ways that we can come up with money, and a pretty fair amount, without having to cut anyone of value.

We can come up with that without having to cut anyone. Joe Marino came up with a list of things he'd do before Free Agency started. Most of it has been done already, but there's still some levers to pull: - Connor McGovern extension could save us 4.2m. - Dion Dawkins restructure could save us 9.8m. - Dawson Knox restructure could save us 6.3m. Other moves like a James Cook extension (unlikely) could save us a little. And a David Edwards extension could save some too. Cutting Samuel Pre 6/1 would cost us 12m in Dead Cap and actually cost us 3m in Cap Space. Post 6/1 would cost us 8.63m in Dead Cap and save us 430k in Cap. I don't think I have to tell you... that's not going to happen. Not only does cutting him save us nothing (and if we do it now it actually costs us cap) - we also don't have the kind of depth at WR to be cutting him.

There is no way they're removing Jones *and* Epenesa before Hoecht and Ogunjobi are here. We'd be left short handed at both positions and relying on Day 2 and Day 3 Rookies to start, with underwhelming options underneath if there are any injuries in the first 6 weeks. A large part of the upgrade this offseason was upgrading the depth of both positions. And unlike most positions, DE and DT depth is rotated in on a regular basis. The whole point of doing what we did in FA and the Draft was to not be in situations like we were last year where we had below average talent level guys cycling in. It's not an upgrade to the rotation at all times if you're removing guys like Epenesa and Jones from the equation. Both still provide more value than what you'd be getting from Solomon and Carter, even if the Rookies are able to step in immediately - which is a big ask of a 3rd and 4th Round Rookie. And specifically for Epenesa, Joey Bosa is historically a walking injury waiting to happen. And he's not likely to go beyond 50% of snaps, likely under. So even if he stays healthy (and God forbid he didn't before Hoecht got here), you're basically asking Jackson to start.