dave mcbride

That’s kind of my point. All three of those guys (Beatherd, Mullens, Flacco) stink. It’s a good spot for Rosen. I truly believe Flacco is just going through the motions now in order to collect seven-figure paychecks. He certainly doesn’t strike me as the sort of guy who possesses the requisite amount of on-screen charisma necessary for a future in broadcasting.

Hard to read too much into this. Flacco has been awful the last two seasons, and this may be more of a commentary on Beatherd and Mullens, who both stink.

I think both you and @Hapless Bills Fan have made excellent posts, but I think you’re missing something about Allen’s deep ball. Speed of receivers isn’t really the issue; in pads Diggs plays well above his combine speed and Brown has always been good at getting to deep balls. The issue in my view is that his arm is so strong that he has simply never trained himself to put air under it. You say Wilson can drop it in a bucket, but it’s not like he’s any more accurate than Allen. He just hangs his fly ball up there longer so that the receiver can adjust and go get it. The low trajectory and velocity of allen’s bombs make that impossible, so it has to be pinpoint. Matt Barkley vs the Jets in 2018 and vs Miami in this year’s finale was hitting deep throws with regularity because his rainbows are much easier to adjust to assuming the receiver gets separation. Same with Orton and Sammy Watkins. Allen basically needs to add the long fly ball to his repertoire and stop relying, Giancarlo Stanton-like, on the line drive home run.

He was very good in 2010 for KC — 10-5 as a starter and a 27/7 td/int ratio. He was actually bad for the jets that year; his sacks were mostly of the garbage time/vulture type. He didn’t start any games and had an AV of 2. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MaybAa99.htm

Morst of his injuries since he got to the Rams have been soft tissue - quads, calf, and hamstring. Incidentally, I don’t think he was supposed to play in this past SB because of the injury, but the route running by Hardiman and Pringle was so poor that they brought Sammy in late. There were at least three throws to the former two where it was clear that Mahomes felt they didn’t run to where they were supposed to be.

The view in the league now is that if you have great corners, they tend to make the d-line look better than it is. CBs are more valued than d-line these days given how quick good qbs get rid of the ball now. Last year alone, 5 CBs were drafted in the first round and 2 DEs.

I think his point is that the 12-4 bears team won because of its amazing defense, not because of the qb. He’s absolutely right about that. It’s a team game at the end of the day even though qb is the most important position.

Enh. I think Goff is pretty good. Not great, but a little better than league average. If he had been a second round pick, people wouldn’t be so down on him. Same goes for trubisky.

Foster had a couple of other decent seasons. I think we’re looking for a one-and-metaphorically-done sorta guy. He started every game in his second season and was bad. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MillTe00.htm

To be fair, Yolo, with Goff there you can smell QB controversy. The talent/performance differential between the two isn’t that big. I think it’s wise for the Lions to avoid that, especially with a new coach.

Hollister does play ST. It’s mentioned in Vic Carucci’s piece today. I have been thinking about this. If they release him without getting, say, a fifth — a real possibility now — that is some very bad GMing by Roseman.

34 percent on kickoffs, but yeah, it's just an informed guesstimate. For the record, I thought it was dumb when Marv actually said it!

Yeah, snap count and play importance. Most ST plays are also entirely predictable unless there's a screw-up, which doesn't happen very often. 66 percent of kickoffs are touchbacks, and it appears that slightly over 50 percent of punt returns are fair caught. There are hardly any returns for TDs anymore (only 7 punt return TDs and 7 kickoff return TDs last year across 256 games) either -- the vast majority of points scored are the product of offensive and defensive play. Place kicking certainly adds some variability given that some kickers are better than others, and they are significant point generators (albeit reliant on the offense to put them in position). But the differences between them are pretty marginal and it explains why teams mostly regard kickers as interchangeable and never spend high draft capital on them. I'm not saying it's unimportant -- an advantage in part of of the game that comprises 10-15 percent of it can make a huge difference in a close game, and there are tons of close games in the NFL. So I'm totally on board with having a good place kicker. But overall, STs simply aren't that important relative to offense and defense. To put it another way, when you're saying that they comprise 1/3 of the game, you're clearly implying that they are of an equal weight to both the offense and defense. But that's preposterous given that teams spend just about all of their money and draft capital on players in the latter two categories, and the vast majority of plays (and scoring plays) are from scrimmage. If ST was that important, you'd see a lot more money going to ST players.

Totally depends on who the Bills have targeted and who is available at 30. If the people they like are gone, then you trade back. That's why this might go on until draft night.

He wasn't bad either. He basically played in what amounted to slightly less than 8 full games (he was injured in the first half of the Rams game, in the fourth quarter of the AZ game, and sat the second half of the last Miami game). Prorated, he would have had 66 catches for 916 yards and 6 TDs over 16 games. He's also regarded as an excellent hitch route runner (scroll down for hitch route rankings: https://www.nfl.com/news/top-3-nfl-wide-receivers-by-route-michael-thomas-reigns), so it's not as if he's a bad route guy. I just think they were wary about injuries and him breaking down. Plus I also think that they view Sanders as an ideal fit for their offense--basically a mirror of Diggs. Tough to cover both of those guys given their expansive route trees and precise route running.

The premise of this thread is ridiculous, but special teams is DEFINITELY not 1/3 of the game. It’s more like 10-15 percent. That phrase is probably the dumbest thing Marv ever said.

We don’t even have a fourth! One thing that COULD happen is the following: The Bills trade from the 30 slot down to, say, the 36th slot on draft night and get a 4th in return. They then use that 4th to swing the trade for Ertz. As Beane said yesterday, you have to be patient in these situations.

Ernie lived four houses away from me when I was growing up. I was friends with his son Chris, and my mom was quite close with Ernie's wife. His son Chris (who was incidentally adopted as a baby) has done very well for himself: https://med.umn.edu/bio/urology-faculty/christopher-warlick.

More than that. They took Ruben Gant in the first round at #18 in 1974, passing over Dave Casper, who went to the Raiders in the second round. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/1974/draft.htm

Are these Cam Newton numbers or real numbers?? Engram literally cost them a game last year, and it ended up costing them a playoff spot.

We'll see. I get where you're coming from, but it is a fact that he's been remarkably injury free. In 11 years, he's never played in fewer than 11 games, and most seasons he has played basically the full 16 games (and 17 in 2019, a year when he was traded). He also had a 75 percent catch rate last season while averaging 12 ypc, which as you know is pretty darn good. It's also the highest pct of his career. Granted, it was Brees throwing the ball, but it's still very good. He looked the same as ever to me last season. Also, he was brought in by the Saints for the same reason the Bills brought him in -- to complement a true #1 (Michael Thomas) and present more problems for defenses because Sanders is very adept at handling complex offenses requiring an ability to handle a big route tree with precision.

There's always fast guys available in FA and the draft every year. I'm not going to worry about that. Anyway, the Bills are playing for this year, not 2023, and they are in fact a SB-caliber team. Sanders does more for them this year than Samuel--who they couldn't afford anyway--probably would, and also bear in mind that deep ball/bomb accuracy isn't really Allen's forte. His forte is the 35-air yard throw on a rope to a guy who burns his defender via great route running and gets a window. Diggs is probably the best receiver in the league at doing that, and Sanders is really good at it too. Sanders mirroring Diggs gives them great options, and with Beasley in the mix, they are going to be hard to defend--again.

It's far more about the receiver type we prioritize. Sanders is great route runner and an "open window" receiver. He also is incredibly experienced and doesn't get hurt. You can't say that about Fuller. I don't have a problem with either of these players, but be careful about the counting stats. Someone has to catch the ball, just like someone has to score 20 ppg in the NBA for even the worst teams. If you're a one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind, it doesn't necessarily mean you're a great player. Stevie Johnson, who was average at best, put up 3 straight 1000-yard seasons. Then he went to a good team and the numbers cratered.

My guess is that he goes round 3 or 4, but after the misses on DK Metcalf, someone may take a chance on him in round 2. Decent college production (9 tds as a sophomore and 19.2 ypc), but nothing great. Could have been the team and the QB; the Illini have been in the dumps for a long time.

4.48 at the size is pretty solid. Assuming he can become a good route runner, he'll be a starter in the NFL at some point.