dave mcbride

I will not be shocked at all if the Bills take a QB.

Benoit is not the first to say this. Some on this board who watch a lot of college football were saying the same last year right after we drafted him. I didn't want to believe them, but they appear to have been right. A non-twitchy leaner was the view among some here.

Marrone is an unlikable person, but he is not a bad football coach. Not only does Polian like him, so does Coughlin. Coughlin is a great coach and a great team builder.

OK - thanks (and thanks to Gerry too). I didn't know that.

I just read that Lombardi piece in the other thread (which is awesome, btw), and both Jonathan Allen and Cam Robinson - 2 of his 14 sure starters - have injury issues. OJ Howard (his #1 offensive player) doesn't, however ..

Awesome piece! Thanks for posting.

Now I'm backtracking. In Peter King's MMQB column today, he quoted a personnel person saying that there were more medical red flag players at the top than ever this year. Davis is one of them: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/04/24/corey-davis-says-hes-close-to-100-percent-after-ankle-surgery/ . Interestingly, the MMQB piece also mentions that Dee Milliner, who was a bust, had five-count-'em-five surgeries before he even joined the NFL. Apparently there's a belief that Alabama beats up its players and they therefore have a tendency to have medical red flags.

I like him too. I think he's right about WR, which has me thinking ... Davis: the most talented WR in the draft.

Good post. I see your point. A question, though: why do people only bring 2nd and 5th round tenders? Is that the rule? Can't you offer, say, a 3rd or 4th round tender?

Great post. I'm glad someone said this. I think Badol's point is that we have to play for the near term and not really think about the long term (2019 and beyond). Planning to lay low low for a couple of years and then become good because we accumulated 5th round picks is a recipe for continued failure. This is a short term league -- the most short term of all of them. And if there wver was a short-term position, it is RB. My two cents on Gillislee-- it is PATENTLY obvious that he is good and could start for a lot of teams. Is this not obvious to, well, everyone? And yes, his ypc is augmented by the presence of Taylor, as is McCoy's. That is also patently obvious.

Fair enough!

I think making an assessment of their roster based on how they do elsewhere isn't quite right. They look for certain types of players for their system. Deion Branch in his prime was a great player for them and a perfect fit, but it didn't mean that he was so physically talented that he could transcend their system. And some of the guys they let go are entering the downswing of their career and simply want to get paid before it's all said and done (Seymour etc.) Regardless of how he played for the Raiders, he played at a near HOF-level by any standard while he was with the Pats.

I disagree. I think they're an organization that is loaded with good players, and as a result don't expect on an annual basis for more than 2-4 picks to break through and contribute. They're kinda like the Yankees circa 1998-2012 that way.

What you say about the Pats 2014 draft is very deceiving. Garrapolo is hands down a good pick and would be starting for a lot of teams. James White arguably should have been Super bowl MVP. And Bryan Stork started in the 2015 Super Bowl. They got results from that draft, and in any event the jury is still out because of Garrapolo. From the 2015 draft, Shaq Mason is a starting guard, and he has played very well: http://www.patspulpit.com/2017/1/25/14365016/pff-patriots-rg-shaq-mason-and-rt-marcus-cannon-rank-1-at-position-since-bye-week . Malcolm Brown had a good season this year too. He started 12 games in 2015 and 13 games in 2016. So basically, you're wrong (uncharacteristically so, I'll add!).

He took over a 2-14 Pats team and got them to the playoffs in year 2 and the SB in year 4. He took over a 1-15 Jets team (they were 3-13 the year before that too) and got them, successively, to 9-7 and 12-4 (they lost the AFC championship game in Denver to a superior team). He took over a Dallas team that had gone 6-10 three years in a row and got them to 10-6 in his first season there with Quincy Carter. He was the GM of Miami, taking over a 1-15 team and getting them to 11-5 in year one. Over a 16 year stretch, he took over 4 horrible teams and got them to double digit wins in very short order. The Bills have not had double digit wins since 1999. Nuff said.

Judging whether someone is a "winner" or not based on SB victories is kinda the apex of bad-logic fandom. Badol also forgot to mention that he took over a 1-15 Miami team and got them to 11-5 the next season.

Bingo: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/patriots-owe-aaron-hernandez-family-millions-article-1.3080990

Why raise this? It's an excellent, active thread with lots of great comments by passionate Bills fans willing to dive into the details. Making fun of long threads because they aren't about, say, a coaching hire or a QB isn't a good use of one's time, in my opinion.

To be honest, I kinda like Mel - he's one on of those "only in America" types of personalities that I find entertaining. And I appreciate that he pretty much rose up on his own. But this is funny: http://awfulannouncing.com/espn/mel-kipers-top-10-nfl-draft-blunders.html .

I'm not saying he was murdered (who knows?), but this sort of murder is all too common in the prison system. Him getting off on those charges may have pissed the wrong people off. Why would he commit suicide after a big acquittal on a related case? It's about as fishy as it gets.

... And 7th overall going into the EJ game.

Did you watch Blount in the postseason? S-l-o-w, and he's not going to get faster (there's also the sharp ypc decline in the regular season). Think Anthony Thomas in his year with the Bills. Also consider the fact that Belichick seems to be the only guy who can motivate Blount to excel. Remember his lackadaisical and very short-lived Steelers stint?

I honestly believe now that they treat their games against the Bills not as competitive matches but rather as scouting expos. It's kinda like a super-Senior Bowl for them. Chandler was their EJ -- he had a great game against the Pats in 2014 (like EJ in the Senior Bowl), but that one game was deceiving.

As I said earlier: 'Cowherd believes that Belichick has lost interest in draft picks after the collective bargaining agreement made things more "pro player" by eliminating the number of practices and amount of hitting that takes place. Instead of teaching rookies, Cowherd believes that Belichick prefers to get veterans who understand the game.' http://www.newyorkupstate.com/buffalo-bills/index.ssf/2017/04/new_england_patriots_working_over_poorly_run_buffalo_bills_says_colin_cowherd.html

I added more info above.