Reed83HOF

So you're happy as well then,,,

I would usually draft the Edge/DE, but Yannick makes it simple this offseason. I wanted Barrett, but he isn't going anywhere. What are your thoughts on LB? I'm really thinking a 2 down run stopper and kick Edmunds outside. It is cheap and will be effective enough

no he is not

Add Yannick & Conklin and I'm damn good

I'd rather give the $10 million a season to a 25 yr old Hooper, who will be just as productive, if not more than a 31 yr old injury prone WR. Smoke & Beasley and the WR coach can the rookie WR up

The top 5 are all excellent I would take any of them, yes I have preferences and you only need to get in between 10 and 19 to secure 2 or 3 of them. I was just trying to illustrate the cost and you might even find that the Raiders, who also own #10 might be willing to play ball

I can see us moving up for a WR, I just don't see us moving for an Edge. With Shaq leaving in FA and Murphy not playing well - I think that gets solved in FA or at least we take a strong shot at it. Beane just can't leave that spot open until the draft. To move up for WR, would you give up this years #22, our 3rd and next year's 1? KC gave up #27, #91 and the following year's first for #10 I would that would leave us #10, 1-2nd, 1- 4th, 2-5ths and 3-6ths and I bet we can move back into the 3rd and draft in rounds 1 - 5

I don't know if I see that many WRs go in round 1, other positions will get pushed up by teams looking to plug holes they either didn't have funds for or whiffed on in FA. What you mention about Edge is why I am even more high on Yannick now - it just makes sense and he is 24.

how far is the dropoff in talent between the first group and this?

I think we will move up before we let all 5 get off the board.

He should be able to run under any long ball Josh could (over) throw Off the top of my head traits we should be looking for are 1.) large catch radius 2.) strong ability to adjust to the ball 3.) soft hands 4.) RAC/YAC 5.) Separation bonus contested catches

You could easily give him a 3-4 yr deal and now hurt yourself at all and honestly I am fine either way. The sum of the parts is outstanding and it may not even be worth messing with, but I can understand if they did. If I had to chose between Yannick or Hooper over him I would. I'm not sure he is worth $9-10 million/season

Look at how Beane drafts in RD 1 - athletic talent is off the charts and super high ceilings

Exactly and you can shuffle your cap dollars you currently have spend to other positions. For instance, as the pass rush increases maybe you can get by without resigning Poyer and Hyde? Does LorAx's replacement need to be a 3 down LB or can you slide Edmunds over and get a cheap 2 down run thumper? You can then take the "savings" and reallocate it by pilfer players from ATL, JAX, MIN, NO, PITT fairly easy this year. Hooper and Yannick stick out like sore thumbs (TB looks to have the space and willingness to take Shaq Barrett off the market). That gives you a 25 yr old pass catching TE and a 24 year old Edge who are experienced, developed, producing and entering their prime in premiere positions that will only get more expensive year after year.

It looks like there is good value in RD2 & 3 for a replacement this year I think we can get WR, RT and S in RDs, 1, 2 and 3 with a little bit of movement. Sign Hooper and Yannick and call it a day. He isn't a Minkah, Derwin, Earl or Harrison Smith so I'm not sure I pay a premium for him...

We have the room, the upfront cash and it won't hurt us. I think I would rather hit the ground running with Yannick - he is better than Cooper or AJ Green and a premier Edge is smaller talent pool in the draft than WR, which makes me feel like I would rather WR hunt in the draft... How many role players and filling out the roster do we need right now? We need blue chippers to get us over the top - we need a top flight WR, RT and Edge along with CB2, legit TE and a Saftey (depending on what we do with Poyer)

He deserves a raise, @GunnerBill is 1000000% correct on him and Hyde disguising coverage and the sum of the parts has been top notch, I'm just not sure how much cap I put into the safeties. We have the room to give a him a raise and structure it so it hits next offseason and limits the upfront hit this year, but from a production standpoint alone he is replaceable at a cheaper contract. I would look to spend my premium cap space on QB, WR, CB, Edge, Pass Catching TE over a zone safety. We could reasonably fit him in though without affecting our ability in the next couple seasons to sign whoever we want.

Yetur or Shenault are most likely at 22 as of now - it depends on how it falls. There is a chance we might have to move up in front of the Raiders or Philly to get a WR. I would love CeeDee Lamb or Jeudy, but it feels like trading up for Sammy Watkins with Evans and OBJ still there. If we signed Yannick and Yetur is there and the top 5 WRs are gone, do we take him as well? I would just sign Yannick, he is 24 and has already played in the league

Us, the Titans, & the Seachickens These teams are going to lose some very good players:

You may have to move a little, I have done a couple mocks and studied the WRs a little bit, but haven't fully looked at needs yet for us and those in front of us (won't know until after the first round of FA anyways), but their is a chance that the first top group of WRs is gone by Oakland/Philly which pick right in front of us. As of today it looks like we could have a chance at Edge Yetur Gross-Matos or WR Laviska Shenault Jr. at 22. RD1 WRS are in no particular order: 1.) CeeDee Lamb 2.) Jerry Juedy 3.) Tee Higgins 4.) Henry Ruggs 5.) Laviska Shenault Jr. All 5 might be gone before us, so if we feel one of those 5 is better than the next group - you will need to move. The top 2 are going to go quick in the top 5-10 IMO

This year is fugging fascinating from a long term and even short term roster building, everything can realistically be on the table - just beware what you overspend on a position now, will have to be taken away from another position. Hooper is 25, Yannick is 24 you can get a developed TE and a developed Edge, who are entering their primes, without having to draft either of these positions by signing them as FAs - you have the cap space and from a scheme perspective if you heavily weight Edge and TE you can add them today, whether you stagger the cap hits for 2020, 2021 or 2022 we have the space to do it. That frees you up in the draft to add WR#1 on a cheap contract for the next 5 years add RT/CB2 and safety replacements this year. If you want to get real creative, draft a run stuffing MLB or sign a solid run stopper LB and slide Edmunds over to fill LorAx's spot; on 3rd downs he comes off the field for your big nickel DB...

So I posted a bit more in the 2020 roster thread looking back at what Beane and McD have said historically Highlights are: 1.) Being able to rush four as opposed to having to pressure, that gives defensive coordinators a lot of flexibility 2.) just philosophically it’s a critical piece for us in terms of that position and being able to pressure the quarterback inside out. 3.) Set your board to their skill set and how you think they will fit what you do. 4.) In FA a.) “We focus on what are our areas of greatest need. What do we want to come out of free agency with at the very minimum? b.) If our cap dollars are short we set a priority for coming out of it with a minimum of some good talent at these three positions c.) You’re always greedy. You’re always saying you can try to upgrade here or there d.) We still have plenty of room to maneuver, should the opportunity be there for a marquee player becomes available via trade or release A few other things to add: 1.) You use free agency to help you so you’re not going to the Draft in April with all these holes, and now you’re drafting for need.” 2.) “We’ve got cap room, and we’re going to use it to fill some holes.” He added, “But we’ve also got to be wise with our money so that when these guys (veterans) are headed into years three and four (Tre’Davious, Matt Milano, that class) when they come up, we have money to spend.” 3.) “It’s a matter of balancing the draft and free agency.” Schoen understands the risks of free agency and how it could hinder long-term draft selections, stating, “Until we can pay some of our own young players that are homegrown, you have to be very careful who you’re paying from the outside and bringing into your locker room.” 4.) He’s a good player that plays hard, brings his lunch pail, and he’s a guy that fits the way we play on the field. I think premium positions for us is 4 man aggressive pass rush - can Yannick fill that role for us? Is he a good player that plays hard and brings his lunch pail? Do we see him as a marquee player? He is young enough and we do have the room to get it done. When I look at this draft at pick 22 we have a shot at Shenault (WR) or Yetur Gross-Matos (DE), the draft is deep at WR and not as much at DE - I may be willing to go after DE in FA Yannick is only 24 and fits what we want to do defensively. This allows me to focus RD1 on a WR and to be able to move to acquire our target. RDs 2-3 have a couple good RT/CB and Safety prospects which make me look at those positions as viable upgrade routes and keeping a good cap balance. Our extra 4, 5 & 6 can give us ammo to move back into 3 and around to target BPAs. An elite TE will be around $10 million or so and I think I am ok with giving that money to that position which usually takes about 3 years to develop instead of spending it on AJ Green or Cooper. We still get an established toy for Josh at a cheaper cap hit and we still get a true #1 via the draft.

You can't just look at this as the 2020 roster, our expiring contracts allows us to alter the make up of the team to build around our core guys we drafted the last 3 years and look at premium positions with our scheme. So to be smart we should look at what was said in the past: Ed Oliver selection: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2019/4/26/18517769/transcript-buffalo-bills-brandon-beane-sean-mcdermott-2019-nfl-draft-pick-ed-oliver-first-round McDermott: As Brandon mentioned, it’s a key part of our defense. No different in where we came from and how we built that defense and the way we’re building our defense now. I’ll say this, no one is ever going to replace Kyle Williams, I just wanted to manage expectations, number one, with that. Ed Oliver is going to come in and, number one, earn everything that he gets. That’s how we do things here, you guys know that. No different in this case. He’s a good player that plays hard, brings his lunch pail, and he’s a guy that fits the way we play on the field. Brandon alluded to the fact that he was used a little bit differently in college that probably how we’ll use him here in our system. He was more lateral, I would say, to be simple about it, in college. Here we play a penetrating, attack-style defense, playing really on the other side of the line of scrimmage as opposed to staying along the line of scrimmage or moving latterly. We’re a penetration, attack-style defense and we’ll use him in that area, in that regard. The thing about Ed that stands out first and foremost is how quick he is at the line of scrimmage. Q: Did you focusing on signing offensive players during free agency because you knew there would be defensive talent available at the draft? Beane: We did know what the d-tackles, there was a lot of pass rushers, whether it was d-ends or d-tackles, so those were things. You can never have enough pass rushers. We did know this was a hole. Three-techs that are pass rushers rarely get to free agency. A lot of times you have to fill that in the draft. Q: Why do you feel a three-tech is worthy of being drafted with the ninth overall pick given him previously saying that interior pressure is critical? McDermott: When you look at it, in the comment I made back at the owners meeting, I stand by. I believe in that philosophically. If you study the game, it’s a lot easier at times, I don’t want to say a lot, it’s easier at times to chip a defensive end, take away a defensive end, an edge rusher, as opposed to an inside rusher. A little bit more of a challenge offensively, systematically to take away an inside rusher that can penetrate and what not. He did it in college, he’s got to do it at our level. That said, just philosophically it’s a critical piece for us in terms of that position and being able to pressure the quarterback inside out. Q: Several times over the last couple years you’ve talked extensively about building the defense up the middle. Obviously you got a few safeties for the last couple of years and you add Tremaine [Edmunds] last year. Ed Oliver, is he what you would consider the final piece to building the defense up the middle? McDermott: I don’t know if he’s the final piece, he’s certainly a piece. Obviously with the answers we’ve given so far you know the importance of that position and how integral it is to stopping the run and also being able to pressure the quarterback as I mentioned, inside-out up front. Being able to rush four as opposed to having to pressure, that gives defensive coordinators a lot of flexibility if you will Q: These past couple of years you’ve drafted three defensive players in the first round, aside from Josh Allen. Is there any preference to drafting a defensive player at the top of the draft opposed to an offensive player because the defensive player may be able to contribute right away easier than an offensive player? Beane: No, not really. I think you truly have to set your board to their skill set and how you think they’ll fit what you do. There were offensive players, one went right before us, still on our board that deserve to be and will be drafted in the first round. We’ll continue to do that. We’re at 40 the next pick and if it’s defense, it’s defense and if it’s offense, it’s offense, and we’re going to stick with that. 2019 Free agency https://www.buffalobills.com/news/why-gm-brandon-beane-could-not-relax-during-the-2019-free-agency-period-buffalo- When the regular season was over, Buffalo’s pro personnel department reviewed all of the work they had compiled on the prospective 2019 free agent class. Meeting as a department players were targeted, but not in the same way prospects are in the NFL draft. “Unlike the draft where you’re looking to take the best player available all the time, in free agency you’re not,” said Beane. “We focus on what are our areas of greatest need. What do we want to come out of free agency with at the very minimum?” That was the approach Beane and his pro personnel department had to take in the 2018 offseason when their cap situation was not conducive to significant spending in the free agent market. “If our cap dollars are short we set a priority for coming out of it with a minimum of some good talent at these three positions as an example,” he said. “Then we’ll save some funds.” “Obviously our cap was in a position where we could be aggressive in spots where we needed to be, but again try to be smart with our money,” Beane said. “Our offense, we knew where we ranked statistically, and it held us back in some games. “We covered a lot of areas. You’re always greedy. You’re always saying you can try to upgrade here or there. Free agency is not over,” said Beane. “It doesn’t mean because I’m standing here that we’re done. We’re continuing to work. Someone could call in a week and say, ‘Hey we signed this other guy, do you want to trade for this guy?’ We still have plenty of room to maneuver, should the opportunity be there for a marquee player becomes available via trade or release.”