Cash

My guess would be Eyein' Eagle and Dan Fouts. Also, I'm in on Beth Mowins - I think she's pretty good - and way in on Kevin Harlan. Best play-by-play for a while now in both football and basketball. Unlike Gus Johnson, he's never turned into self-parody IMO.

You mean if the coverage wasn’t blown, then it would’ve been a good throw? Yeah, I think that’s probably right. But the coverage was blown, and thus it was a bad pass. Allen had a few of those types of plays last year as well, where it seemed like maybe he threw the route as drawn up, whereas the WR went where the defense wasn’t. In terms of this play tonight, he either missed the throw physically, but kept it catchable, or didn’t react in time to the defense. Looking at the replay, he held the ball about half a beat longer than he ideally should have, so it’s disappointing that that didn’t result in a better throw. Still, not a bad drive all in all. If this is as good as Allen gets, we’re screwed, but I don’t think anyone thinks he’s a finished product right now.

I didn’t see either team’s first drive, but here’s my partial review of the 1st half: -Defense looks great! -Mixed bag from Allen. 23yd completion to Zay was a bad throw - led him so far wide that Zay barely got his feet in bounds. A good throw would’ve gotten at least 5-10 more yards, maybe way more if Zay makes a guy miss. -On the other hand, his bullet to Zay that got Zay knocked out was a really good throw. I don’t fault him for leading Zay into the safety - there are no 100% safe plays in football. -Also some nice short throws to stationary targets, taking what the defense gave him. -Still feel alright about Barkley as our backup. Started with a beautiful slant to Foster, then a bunch of meh, then some nice checkdowns leading to a pretty TD throw. I think we’ve done a lot worse at backup QB in recent years. -You can definitely see the potential in Singletary. He has that ability to make guys miss. Just need to see it against real NFL players in addition to these scrubs. Only negative was that run where EJ Speed caught him. Singletary made a great cut to give himself tons of daylight, but wasn’t fast enough to turn the corner. Definitely a player to keep watching this preseason. -I think I’m in love with Daryl Johnson. Every year I have an irrational football crush on some late or undrafted prospect, and I think he’s the one this year. Sometimes I’m right (Darick Holmes and Jay Riemersma come to mind - I’m getting old), sometimes I’m way off. (Big Mike Jasper!) -Was that Bodine on the jailbreak snap? I would be surprised if Bodine makes the team at this point. -As for olinemen who are likely to make the team, I didn’t really notice them, which is a great sign. -Not a fan of the Yeldon signing when it happened. My mind isn’t changed yet.

But isn't that just basically the nickel D we ran in passing situations alot last year? Edmunds and Milano as LBs, Hughes and Murphy as DEs, and Oliver and Alexander as DTs? I know we played Alexander at DT in pass rush situations a lot last year. Not sure why Sal C was so blown away to see it again.

Very happy with this!

Same. There isn’t necessarily enough interesting Bills content to fill out an article every day, especially in the off-season. But when they do post an article, it’s almost always worth my time.

I think "McBeane" is a decent shorthand for things like "the front office" or "the Bills' braintrust" or "the people in charge at 1 Bills Drive". "Trust the process" wasn't great when the 76ers were using it and it's still not great now. I (thankfully) haven't actually seen people using "McClappy", so TTP got my vote.

Thanks for posting - hadn’t seen that yet. First, I note that he brought up the “used incorrectly” bit in an unrelated question. He’s obviously a little sensitive, haha. Second, I think what he’s hearing is, “you/Houston did a poor job of utilizing Ed Oliver in your defense,” and I think he’s fair in pushing back against that. But I also don’t think that’s what most people are really saying. I think it’s really more of, “Ed Oliver’s best situation is as a 3-tech DT in a 4-3 defense similar to what Sean McDermott runs, and he’ll be more effective in that role vs. the role he had at Houston.” I think Blum agrees with the latter statement - he even basically said as much at the end. And the difference between the two is that most coaches aren’t capable of switching from 3-4 to 4-3 based on one player and making it work.

Probably easier to just leave you stripped down the whole time. “Why is there a nude man in the draft room?” ”It’s part of our fan outreach program, don’t worry about it.”

LB is easily better for me - even with Zo a year older, Edmunds in year 2 and Milano in year 3 should be enough better to counter that. Plus our backups last year were... not great, so even a 5th round pick stands to be an upgrade there. Safety i I may have overlooked. But at least we don’t expect the starters to be getting worse yet, and we did commit a low draft pick there.

On paper, looks better at every position except DE, P, and maybe DT (depending on how much you value Kyle’s leadership and also how good you think Oliver will be as a rookie. Remember, even most hall of famers aren’t pro bowlers their rookie years). Oh, and I guess K/LS are laterals as well, assuming Hauschka is healthy. But yeah, literally every other position loooks upgraded.

No one. We didn't need to trade up for Poszlusney (sp?) back in the day, because either he or David Harris would've been available when our pick came around. There will be a guy who's highly rated and fills a need for us at 40 - probably more like 4 or 5 guys. Be patient and take the best available at that spot. Or trade down a smidge if a good offer presents itself and you'll still get one of those guys.

Yes - it's an admission that a given prospect's position will be different depending on what scheme they're drafted into (mostly 3-4 vs 4-3), but their *role* in the defense will mostly be the same. Jerry Hughes, for example, came into the league as an OLB in Indy's 3-4 scheme at the time, but now plays DE in our 4-3. Von Miller is another good example - he actually starts at OLB in a 4-3, but plays DE on passing downs. He's listed on the roster as LB, but in terms of how their defenses use them, Miller has a lot more in common with Hughes than he does with Matt Milano. Right, that's another good point. Bruce was certainly an edge rusher as a 3-4 DE in the 90s, but not every 3-4 DE fits that bill. Likewise, most (not all) 3-4 OLBs and some 4-3 OLBs fit that category as well. Sticking with the 90s defenses, Cornelius Bennett was an "edge" at OLB, but Darryl Talley was not.

I wouldn’t mind 3 picks on day 2, but in that case, I’d rather save picks to try to have 2 second rounders, rather than move up to 33 (and only have enough left to get into the late 3rd). Looking at who’s left, the only position where I really see a drop off that might hit before 40 is TE. I don’t actually think there’s that much difference between Metcalf and the next few WRs. I do think it’s a big drop from Irv Smith to the next TE, but if he’s gone, there’s a good chance Ferguson or Winovich is still there. Or at least one of the WRs. Basically I think the draft is so inherently uncertain that there’s no realistic way that we can be sure whoever goes at 33 will be better than who we’d get at 40.

This (and having a lot less free time) is why I've mostly stopped "scouting" prospects pre-draft. Easier for me to just read profiles and watch youtube clips of the guys we draft after the fact, and either get hyped or try to talk myself into them. If it turns out that I think Ed Oliver is the next Aaron Donald, I won't know it unless the Bills draft him.

That's right! I believe they used middle initials that year to differentiate them. Roy L Williams and... Roy C Williams maybe?

He won't be. Being able to change direction is very important for a WR. He's not a top 10 player in this draft, therefore he can't be BPA at #9.

Pretty cool that BPA last year just happened to be the 2 positions at which they were desperate for starters. The Bills are absolutely “eyeing” some number of players. Which ones? I have no idea! But I have a fairly decent idea of the positions. Not as good as last year, when the QBs heading into the draft were Peterman & McCarron, and the MLBs were... no one? But where things stand now, the Bills have signed 4 OL to potentially starting contracts - at least high end backup $$. Also signed 2 WRs for too much to justify not playing major roles. But no DL to replace Kyle Williams, and our interior/run D was a weakness last year to begin with. Add in that we currently only have 2 TEs on the roster, and the best one is maybe around Clay’s level from 2-3 years ago, and I think that 2 of DT, DE, and TE will be their first 2 picks. Probably DL round 1, TE round 2, with maybe a small trade up for the TE a la Zay Jonesa couple years ago.

Wow! Surprised he got that much less than Morse. I think I'd rather have Morse, but what do I know? Still don't particularly think we overpaid, just think the Panthers got a bargain.

DL yes, but I disagree on OL. The Bills have signed a C, a C/G, and an LT/RT in free agency. I think that Dawkins stays at LT, Nsekhe starts at RT, Morse at C, and Long at one of the G spots. And between guys returning from last year and dumpster-dive free agents, the Bills can probably find a "good enough" starter at the last G spot. In any case, I don't think there's any guards rated high enough to take in the top 10 this year? I think it's looking like either premier DL - either edge or interior rusher - or trade down. TE is the wildcard, but I think (hope) that the Bills would only go TE in the first after a trade down. Greedy Williams would be the other wildcard if he's there. Anything else would surprise me.

I will be surprised/disappointed if the Bills don't draft a TE in the first 3 rounds. There's still only 2 on the roster, and the money they gave to Kroft probably precludes another significant FA at the position. (I do think they'll sign at least 1 more FA, but it'll be more of a 1 year deal close to the vet minimum.) I'd be okay with a TE at #9, although I don't think there's any worth the pick this year. I'd be thrilled with one of Hockenson/Irv Smith/Fant either at #40 or in the 1st after a trade down.

I like this signing! He's old, but legit good. Should hopefully be a solid starter for at least next year.

Agreed. Last year was a great time to sign Brown: production >> price. This year, not so much. I think we're getting a below-average WR for average $$. I wasn't on the Antonio Brown bandwagon, but I'd rather have an elite guy like him for $18mil/year than 2 John Brown types. We'll see, hopefully I'm wrong.

To clarify, I'm talking about what the Bills SHOULD do, not necessarily what they ARE doing. Last year's team was a loooooong way away from being a contender. More than a full offseason away, in my opinion.

Given how it turned out, not much. (And I haven't seen any credible speculation about what the trade compensation was yet.) There's probably a price point at which AB would've committed to playing for the Bills next year. There certainly was for Shady when we traded for him - he was very upset by that trade until we gave him a new deal, then it was all smiles. If the Bills had gone all-out to get Brown regardless of cost, that would concern me. The Bills are at LEAST a year away from being a "win-now" team. I certainly don't mind the team pursuing one of the top players (ever) at a position of need, but there's a point at which the price is no longer worth it.