BillsFanForever19

How in the hell would losing to the Saints make us win the turnover battle against the Patriots?

It's not the GM's "literal job to know who" the better Pro will be. No one has a Crystal Ball. It's always a projection and an educated guess that can hit or fail based on a million different factors. Their job is to field a winning team. They are held responsible for the result of the team they field. Whaley and Nix weren't fired for Drafting poorly. They were fired for not fielding a winning team. Is Drafting part of that? Absolutely. But it's just a part of it. Acquiring a stud QB (which you can do outside of the Draft), getting the right Free Agents, managing the cap, and correctly evaluating when and where to improve or stay pat with what you have are all as important, if not more (definitely cumulatively). If you can't secure a Franchise QB (as Whaley and Nix didn't), you can Draft amazingly elsewhere, not compete, and lose your job. On the Flip side, you can secure a Josh Allen, miss on some picks, but be safe for being a team that competes every year. If anything, you're judged more harshly for going against the grain and being wrong than you are going with the consensus top prospect and being wrong. Bill Belichick is a prime example of a lot of these things. On practically a yearly basis, Belichick would reach with his picks and dumbfound former scouts and Draft analysts. It rarely worked. Tom Brady and the players who would sign on to play with Tom Brady kept them a force and cancelled out the bad Drafting. But once Brady went from being superhuman to just a very good QB, those Draft flaws started to add up. Soon after Brady left to go somewhere else where he had better help to make up for the drop off in his game age provided. And not soon after he left, then and only then the inadequacies in roster building, leaving the Patriots non competitive, would quickly cost Belichick his job.

If you want to talk about LaPorta being the better Pro or being healthier, that's fine. But Kincaid was the better Prospect and as such was expected to be the better Pro. It hasn't turned out that way thus far, but that happens more often than not when it comes to the Draft. Could be worse, we could have been the Browns, Jets, or Cardinals and Drafted Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, or Josh Rosen with Josh Allen and/or Lamar Jackson on the board. Or imagine taking Henry Ruggs or Jalen Raegor over Justin Jefferson. Hindsight is always 20/20 when it comes to the Draft. But on the size thing - if you look at pictures of them, they look the same. Because they're practically the same size. Sam LaPorta is 6'3" 245 lbs. Dalton Kincaid is 6'4" 240 lbs.

I didn't say that it isn't a thing that teams do. Just that it's not something we're doing in this instance. Even if you don't count Bass and Johnston (as their IR's necessitate replacements who can't be cut unless they're coming back), there were still 4 IR'ed players before Sanders and Hamlin today. Meaning 4 people who are essentially placeholders on the roster, 3 of which wouldn't have been on it if Hairston, Hoecht, and Ogunjobi were available. And that doesn't even take into account someone like Brandon Codrington, who is still on the roster but doesn't have a role anymore and is easily moved on. Or players who could potentially get long term injured this week against the Falcons. All this to say that voluntarily moving Sanders and Hamlin off the active roster wasn't necessary. And with Sanders in particular, you wouldn't do that unless you had to. Getting the guys we need to get on was a cake walk before today. So it doesn't make sense that they'd IR Sanders and Hamlin for them. Especially now when we can't even dress any of them. People were saying the same thing about us IR'ing Strong last week. As if we'd voluntarily put ourselves in the position we were in against the Pats, where we had no choice but to stick with him while he was playing maybe the worst game of his life, all the while with Hairston not even close to returning.

I'm sure that's what a lot of people want. But it wouldn't remotely shock me to see them bring him back into camp next year as depth, just like this year. Theoretically, Ogunjobi comes in for Sanders after this week. Hairston will eventually replace the spot lost by Strong. Poyer could replace Hamlin's spot. So there is depth where we hopefully won't lose much. But we'd preferably be in a spot where we haven't already had 2 CB's, 2 DT's, and a Safety from what should have been our 53 on IR by Week 6. Not to mention LB's like Milano and Williams coming in and out of the lineup.

His contract for this season is fully guaranteed. There's no settlement to be done.

Again, I disagree with this completely. You think they're taking T.J. Sanders, our high 2nd Round selection, off the field and having his Rookie season and development upended by doing elective surgery - so they can replace him with Larry friggin' Ogunjobi? That would be big dumb. And they don't even need to do that. Damar Hamlin tore his pec. There's guys like Brandon Codrington and Ja'Marcus Ingram who are inactive or barely used. Guys like Sam Franklin Jr. and Jimmy Ciarlo who are players who could easily be moved back to the Practice Squad. There is no "clever" roster manipulation. Just guys legitimately getting injured.

Coming out of Training Camp, you have a certain number you're allowed to designate to return from IR before the season starts. If you don't designate them that, they're out for the year. Both Hairston and Grable were given that designation. So they're eligible to return. Carter, on the other hand is not. In season, I believe you don't have to label as you do prior to the season. But you're only allowed 8 to return. I believe Hairston and Grable count amongst that 8, even though they were officially labeled prior to the season starting. And no, they have the Return from IR designation - but neither returned with their 21 day practice window yet.

Yeah, that made me laugh. Comes in and says they "reopened federal charges" - which is just completely false. There was an initial investigation 4 years ago and no charges were filed. That's it from the state level and there was nothing from the federal level. The accuser filed a civil suit after he got paid, but that's it. He's claiming some "burglary charge". There's nothing there. In the allegation, the accuser initially alleged he stole stuff. But, again, they didn't find evidence to charge him. And in the civil case, there's no claim of burglary. It's just an SA liability case. So, yeah, that's just wrong. I guess when you're that wrong, it's better to just act like you're privy to knowledge no one else is rather than just say admit you're wrong...

I don't think there's any bending of the rules here. Sanders was fully going until last week when it was reported he had a knee injury and now he had to get surgery. I highly doubt they're choosing to get unnecessary surgery on their high 2nd Round Pick and voluntarily upending his development just to fit Larry Ogunjobi on the roster. As for Hairston, they're clearly being overly cautious with him. They don't want to give him a full load, even in practice until he's fully healthy.

I mean, you've been commenting on a number of things that aren't based in reality already - what's stopping you now?

Players on IR now are as follows: CB Maxwell Hairston (IR to Return) DT T.J. Sanders CB Dorian Strong K Tyler Bass S Damar Hamlin OT Tylan Grable (IR to Return) P Cameron Johnston DT Dewayne Carter (Ineligible to Return) Sanders going down really stinks. Between Hairston (who we hopefully get back soon), Sanders, and Strong our Defensive focused Draft class has been decimated by injuries. Thankfully we should have Ed Oliver back and Ogunjobi after this week to replace him. But ideally, we had all 3 cycling the 3T spot. Sanders needed surgery to repair his knee. McDermott wouldn't completely rule out Sanders possibly returning at some point late in the season. But I'm not holding my breath. Though he seemed to indicate it's unlikely for Hamlin. We currently have 2 open roster spots, on top of players like Sam Franklin Jr. and Jimmy Ciarlo who were signed to the roster from the Practice Squad. So all that effort people put into racking their brains on how we'd fit Maxwell Hairston, Michael Hoecht, and Larry Ogunjobi was for naught, as moving all 3 on to the Roster can easily be done without having to move on from anyone the initial 53. Though given the reasoning for that, it's not something you like to see.

I disagree. When the Rams had Cooper Kupp, but needed help on the Outside - would it have made sense for them to pass on trading for Odell Beckham Jr. (that they could put on the field at the same time as Kupp) to bring in another Slot like Kupp? No. Likewise It would have made zero sense, when we already had Khalil Shakir (our Kupp), Dalton Kincaid, and Curtis Samuel to bring in another Slot guy - when literally all we had was Mack Hollins and nothing else on the Outside. In a vacuum, I see the logic you're trying to go with. But when you have literally nothing at a position, you have to fill those spots first. Ladd McConkey would have served to take Khalil Shakir or Kincaid off the field and we'd be rolling with Hollins and MVS as our Outside guys with no backups. It'd have been like us drafting a Nickel CB in 2023 or 2025 when we already had Taron Johnson but needed to replace a starting Outside CB. Drafting a 3T when you need a 1T, a Middle Linebacker when you need an Outside Linebacker, an Interior Offensive Lineman when you need an Offensive Tackle. Just because they're in the same position group doesn't mean their skill set and talent at their natural position is transferrable anywhere.

As a Draft prospect, he absolutely warranted the 30th pick in the Draft. Not all 1st round picks are created equal. Our 1sts since 2019 are closer to 2nd's.

We traded out of the 1st in 2024, Kincaid is maybe our best receiving option this year and is looking more like his Rookie season, we just extended Rousseau to an 80m deal, didn't have a 2020 1st, Ed Oliver is pretty damn good, Josh Allen is Josh friggin' Allen, and Tre White was an All Pro CB before injuries. Outside of Kaiir Elam in 2022, I don't know what you're talking about. Unless you've already determined Maxwell Hairston is a bust before he's ever played a down in the NFL. Busts in the 1at happen to everyone at some point in time, especially when you're picking closer to the 2nd to begin with. But saying our 1sts "don't usually work out"? That's really inaccurate when you break it down.

It depends how far he traded back. Considering Ja'Lynn Polk, who was considered to go much later than Coleman as an Outside WR prospect, was reached for just 4 Picks after we took him (and has already been traded away for a bag of balls) - I think the idea that we could have waited on Coleman is inaccurate. It's been said they settled on Polk bc they missed out on Coleman. And the other Top 3 Outside WR's left - Adonai Mitchell, Troy Franklin, and Jermaine Burton, all had red flags that caused them to heavily slip down boards. On the Ladd or Cooper note - I've beaten this horse to death, both Pre-Draft and Post-Draft to this day, but Ladd wasn't compatible for us. We didn't need guys who were Slots. Anyone who worked out of the Slot even as much as 50% of snaps were out. We had that covered with Khalil Shakir, Dalton Kincaid, and Curtis Samuel. But we had nothing (besides Mack Hollins) to replace Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis on the Outside. And as I said in the post, Coleman has better numbers than McConkey thus far this season anyways. Hard to argue against the idea of taking Cooper DeJean instead of Keon Coleman with hindsight, especially seeing the position we're in at CB right now. But at the time, we didn't know Douglas was going to hit a wall and as I said, we had a *glaring hole* at Outside WR. And when you consider the Draft red flags with Mitchell, Burton, and Franklin - the pickings were incredibly slim at that point.

I do agree that the plan was to start White. But I like to think, as I said, that was just to ease Hairston in. That they'd ramp up Hairston's reps throughout the second half of Training Camp and the Pre-Season. And when the season started, he'd get more and more reps until he got his proverbial sea legs under him and ultimately move White to the bench. Especially now with how bad he's playing. We'll never know what the plan was bc of the injury to Hairston before the Pre-Season and the 2nd Half of Training Camp started. You could be right. It could have been White and Hairston not starting unless there was an injury. And if that were the case, it's simply malpractice.

Said it all off-season, I would not have extended Greg Rousseau and Terrel Bernard. At least not until I saw how their 2025 went. With Bernard, he regressed in 2024 and he's started to show a penchant for getting dinged up. So far this year, it's felt like more of the same. He makes a big play every once in a while, like the Baltimore game. But the only true consistency is that the pass game and run defense beyond the line of scrimmage is terrible. With Rousseau, if he's so valuable, why have we spent every off-season saying "we need a premier Edge Rusher"? If we want one of them, we have to pay Parsons/Garrett money and that's unlikely to happen while you're paying Rosseau 20m a year on the other side. I feel as though Beane follows the "Draft, Develop, Retain" mantra too much, to a detriment. We are consistently in a spot every off-season where we're begging for game changers but cannot afford to get them bc we're up against the Cap - retaining too many decent players at the cost of being able to get great players. People were advocating for going all out this off-season on additions, even if it meant we wouldn't re-sign any of them. I knew that wouldn't happen and that we needed to retain 2-3. But even I didn't think we'd sign *all 5*.

People are hyper focused on him bc he's our guy and saying Drafting him was a mistake. But when you compare him to all of the other top options we could have went with instead - his numbers are better than practically every single other option, especially when you consider Slots weren't what we were in the market for: Keon Coleman - 21 receptions, 226 yards, 2 TDs Xavier Worthy (injured for 2 games) - 11 receptions, 125 yards, 0 TD Ricky Pearsall (Slot) - 21 receptions, 327 yards, 0 TD Xavier Legette - 6 receptions, 39 yards, 1 TD Ladd McConkey (Slot) - 21 receptions, 213 yards, 1 TD Ja'Lynn Polk (Traded to the Saints with a 7th for a 6th) - Inactive all year Adonai Mitchell - 7 receptions, 137 yards, 0 TD Malachi Corley (Slot, Cut by Jets and signed to Browns Practice Squad) - Inactive all year Jermaine Burton - Inactive all year Roman Wilson (Slot) - 1 reception, 7 yards, 0 TD Luke McCaffrey (Slot) - 7 receptions, 146 yards, 2 TDs Javon Baker (Cut by Patriots, Signed to Eagles PA) - Inactive all year Troy Franklin - 21 receptions, 231 yards, 1 TD

Geesh - I thought we were finally done with him. He made Milano look reliable and available.

We didn't "get rid of" Tyrel Dodson. When his contract was up, he was signed by the Seahawks to be their starter, to fairly decent money. He wasn't going to give up the opportunity to start in Seattle to be a Backup here.

I think the hope was that Tre returning to the Defense he was familiar with would make him at least serviceable. The issue is, not only is he not remotely the same guy anymore, but the stellar Safety play behind him he was used to isn't there to bail him out. I don't think the plan was ever to start him and have him play 100% of the snaps as he is now. There was an outside chance Hairston would start out of the gate. But more likely he'd be splitting reps with Hairston initially, with Hairston gradually getting more as he got his sea legs under him - ultimately starting and taking over by this point or mid season. Hairston getting injured really messed those plans up. But we had an insurance policy in Dorian Strong, like we did when we took Elam and Benford. And he showed some promise. Last night, I'm positive he'd be being cycled in for White with how bad he was playing. As he had been throughout the season. But now Strong's on IR too. And we're just stuck with White. Relying on him 100% with no one cycling in for him, unless we want to go with Ingram. This is absolutely nowhere to be. The good news is i'd expect to have Hairston back after the bye or soon thereafter. The bad news is, that plan to bring him along slowly and not throw too much at him too soon will probably still happen. So I wouldn't expect them to just throw him into the fire.

Except for the fact that Ladd and Shakir play the same position. So you aren't going to have them on the field at the same time very often or at all. McConkey's a Slot. Which is why we didn't Draft him. On top of McConkey being a Slot, serving to just take Shakir off the field and do little to nothing to replace Diggs and Davis on the Outside - thus far this season, McConkey and Coleman's stats are near identical - with a slight edge to Coleman: Coleman - 21 receptions, 226 yards, and 2 TDs McConkey - 21 receptions, 213 yards, and 1 TD Through the first 5 games, this idea that we'd be much better off with McConkey is statistically false.

To focus on Coleman and only Coleman for the loss and obsess over a fumble that cost us 3 out of 23 points, and happened in the 1st Quarter of a 4 Quarter terrible game is absolutely, positively absurd. Coleman jumped up and caught a 50/50 ball to sustain a drive to keep us alive. Coleman caught a TD to make up for it. Would have likely had another 50/50 TD in the back of the end zone had Josh not overthrown the ball. There's so, so, so many players to blame for the loss. Feels like you want to blame Coleman for the loss bc you don't like him as a player and you don't want to call out other players you do like. Keon's not near the top of the list of people that should be blamed today.

Yeah, the plan was always for him to be at most a bridge to Hairston - if not a backup to Hairston straight out of Camp. The injury to Hairston forced us to rely on him, which is *nowhere* you want to be. They'd have been playing more of Dorian Strong tonight with how poorly White was playing. But now we don't even have him either. That's the toughest part about this. White is toast. But our only other options right now are to play Ja'Marcus Ingram or Dane Jackson. Which probably wouldn't be much worse, but wouldn't be any better either. Tonight was exactly why I was saying the idea from another poster that we IR'ed him to make room for players coming and that it was "nothing to see" was ridiculous. We really could have used him tonight and I can't believe they'd purposely put us in a situation where we would have no choice but to stick with White.