KOKBILLS

We could have had him for free if Beane would have just hired me... Instead I got a restraining order and we all got Kaiir Elam...

Josh himself has laughed off those reports and explained them more than once in interviews. He said he's interested and involved, but more like a fan is. So it's more like... They come to him with the guys they have scouted and really like with their plan and he watches them, or remembers seeing them in College, and gives his input. But since when has anybody every heard Josh say anything negative about anybody except maybe Christian Wilkins? If Beane was truly drafting players because Josh wanted them...then I would absolutely want him fired today... I just don't think that's the case because I've heard Josh explain his role in those picks...

I know you can't control injuries... But these last 2 Drafts have been underwhelming so far. We all have to consider the Bills purged all those vet contracts and loaded up on Draft picks specifically to boost the depth on this roster through the 2024 and 2025 Drafts. Here's what we are getting on the field right now from the past 2 Drafts...19 picks total... 1. Deone Walker - DT - 4th Rd 2025 - Pretty clearly the best player from either Draft so far with the biggest upside 2. Cole Bishop - S - 2nd Rd 2024 - Starting S but pretty clearly up and down at this point. 3. Max Hairston - CB - 1st Rd 2025 - He's this high because he's a 1st Round Pick and injury or not he is the Bills plan A right now to improve at CB. Just depends on when he'll be able to play. 4. Keon Coleman - WR - 2nd Rd 2024 - Starting WR but no where near the player they Drafted him to be at this point. 5. Jackson Hawes - TE - 5th Rd 2025 - 3rd TE but a strong start for a Rookie. Has contributed more in the passing game already than most thought he would. Should only get better. 6. Ray Davis - RB - 4th Rd 2024 - 3rd RB who has shown some real good flashes but has also been inconsistent at times. 7. TJ Sanders - DT - 2nd Rd 2025 - Played a lot the 1st 4 games before getting hurt. Showed some flashes but was nothing special. Typical rookie stuff though. It can be argued he would have looked a lot better by the end of the year if he did not get hurt...But he did... 8. Dorian Strong - CB - 6th Rd 2025 - Started week 1 and was probably the least of the Bills problems on Defense outside of Ed Oliver. Was starting to get more reps and I think the plan was going to see him replace Tre as the starter soon. But like Sanders he got hurt and his injury seems to be more serious. This was a huge depth loss. 9. Tylan Grable - OT - 6th Rd 2024 - He won the swing OT role in 2024 and really looked good. Had concussion issues in camp and it seems like, due to numbers and the fact that the Bills already have quality depth at OT and IOL the Bills have decided to just keep him on ice till they need him. If the concussion issues are not really serious Grable is a very nice piece moving forward. 10. Sedrick Van Pran-Granger - C - 5th Rd 2024 - By all reports he was taking the #2 C snaps in mini camp. Then he got hurt, missed the entire training camp, and now has been passed by Anderson again for the primary backup role at C. Still... I think he's the odds on favorite to be the starting C if McGovern leaves in Free Agency next year. 11. Landon Jackson - DE - 3rd Rd 2025 - Has been active the last two games but has nothing really to show for it. Coming along much slower than most, including myself, expected. Still he has real good upside. May not be much of anything till 2026 and beyond though. 12. Javon Solomon - DE - 5th Rd 2024 - Last DE in the rotation and ST's player. 13. Jordan Hancock - S - 5th Rd 2025 - Got injured late in Camp when he seemed to really be coming on. At this point though, with how terrible our Safety play has been, you have to wonder how he has not managed to get on the field. 14. Chase Lundt - OT - If it were not for the injuries he would likely be on the PS right now. Dewayne Carter is on IR and out for the year. But if he showed anything in 2024 no way the Bills sign Ogunjobi and Draft 2 DT's...International sensation OT Travis Cayton is on the PS for the 2nd consecutive year... Edefuan Ulofoshio, Daequan Hardy, Kaden Prather all cut and gone.. Walker is not technically a starter yet... But he's playing well enough that he can be categorized as a solid starter I think... But that's it... Bishop and Keon are not there yet...The rest are role players, back-ups, or injured... I think numbers wise, as far as who is still around it's actually not bad... But impact wise it's brutal. Injuries have effected or stunted the progress of 8 different Draft picks over the past two years... But we also have to look at the picks themselves. As a Draft junkie...I have issues...lol...Coleman over McConkey would be the most obvious... Look...we can get into slot over X and all that stuff... I think on this board we all know McConkey played outside on 70% of his downs in his last year in GA, and he's played outside on about 40% of his downs in the NFL... But the thing is... The Bills went against their normal philosophy here and it cost them dearly. They have always preferred separators for Josh since we went out and got Brown and Beasley. McConkey should have been the pick there... In the late 3rd the Bills took an average sized DT with a 4th Rd Grade (#118 overall on the consensus board) in DeWayne Carter. The problem there for me was that WR Troy Franklin was still available. And especially considering that they took Coleman, it seemed to me doubling up with Franklin was even more necessary at that point. Now, I'm not trying to say Franklin was an elite prospect... But the Bills want to have this everybody eats philosophy and that means you have to have players who specialize somewhat. And Franklin can stretch the field. He was a high quality College #1 WR... And right now Franklin would be the Bills #2 WR in receptions and yards. He's starting this year in Denver. 24 Receptions for 250 yards and a TD... The Bills could have had Franklin with a 3rd Rd pick...#95 overall... That's a bargain... It's WAY too early to tell about the 2025 class... And I had Max right at #30 overall on my board...So it was a decent value pick... The thing is there was one guy...one guy that I had rated #11 overall and he was still available... And I definitely felt he was a legit difference-maker-type prospect. That prospect was LB Jihaad Campbell from Alabama. The guy just stood out... His RAS was incomplete... But a 9.88 incomplete...And he had game breaking skills as a pass rusher at LB that were still just developing. I realize some teams had concerns with the shoulders and the knees, but Howie Roseman said none of those were long term concerns... He had surgery for the torn labrum in his left shoulder and has been fine so far this year. He's played and started every game. 40 TT's, 20 solo, a FF, an INT, and 2 PD's...And I know the Bills wanted a CB... Fine... I get that... But the thing that drives me nuts is this... The constant...we took the player that was highest rated on our board stuff... Like... OK... If I take you at face value on that Mr Beane then...you need new scouts... Because if y'all had Max higher than Campbell on your big board you should not be doing what you are doing in the NFL... If you had DeWayne Carter higher than Troy Franklin... You're nuts! Anyway... I can go on and on...

I think it just came down to the fact that they lost the smartest Offensive guy in the room... And then they just settled for less because that's all they had.

The thing is with this team... I I know it's not controllable, or even explainable to an extent... But we've been on this hamster wheel of if's concerning injuries and when guys are coming back for what seems like 3 years now, only to see more thrown on the injury pile as things play out... We never seem to be able to get to that point where everyone is playing well, and everyone is playing... I know it's the NFL... and heck some teams have it worse than us... But the assumption that this is ever going to get better just seems more and more far fetched each and every week. Like just in the past couple weeks... The Strong and Sanders injuries are just back breakers for the home stretch because those are 2 young guys you are expecting to play, learn, take their bumps, and start rounding out as solid depth players right around week 12 and on into the Playoffs. They are young bodies and Draft picks that were counted on. Now both might be done for the season... It just piles up...

I understand the sentiment... But even though it seems like yesterday, Diggs was traded in a different era of trades/cap... Teams are not getting, or even asking for what they used to in trades...see the Micah Parsons trade. Plus you have the concussion issues...So, in the current climate I don't think Olave is worth a 1st... I think maybe a 2nd... Or a pick swap if you use the 2nd where you move the Saints up and get their 4th or 5th back... IMHO of course...

Can I have Dexter Lawrence and DK Metcalf? I think Lawrence and Jeffrey Simmons are both REAL good studies on how the Bills, and their philosophy on culture at Draft time, can sometimes backfire... Both Lawrence and Simmons came into the 2019 Draft with off field issues. Only NFL teams will know the whole story and the true severity, but the fact that the Giants and Titans both used 1st Round picks on them shows that, at least in those organizations, they were comfortable that the troubles were behind them. Neither Lawrence nor Simmons have been suspended in the NFL to this point, and it can at least be argued that Ed has had more off-the-field trouble with the gun thing. I think it's crystal clear Simmons and Lawrence are better all around DT's than Ed. It is what it is...

I really don't know... But that's mostly because I've never really dove into that part... I do know, especially right now in Josh's prime there would be no shortage of potential candidates. But the cap issues make it really scary...

He has a considerable amount of say in everything... And how...at this point...some folks still don't get that is beyond me...

No way... I've been waiting for this moment since 2019 when they took Cody Ford over DK Metcalf. Still...I knew it would come... I thought it would come with Boogie... I was SURE it would come with Elam... But then Benford got them off the hook somehow. I REALLY figured folks would have enough with Coleman over McConkey...But Coleman gets the MVP endorsement and all is forgiven... I hated...and I mean HATED the DeWayne Carter pick because I wanted Troy Franklin... And yes I realize Franklin is not exactly Ja'Marr Chase... But he's better than Carter... I even thought there was a chance when I was dropping Poona Ford and Tim Settle stats I could get a ground swell going... But that was crickets... But last night did it... And no one can take it from me... Finally we can open the books and have the discussions... Fair and honest discussions. Seriously though...I like McBean as people. I think they have redeemable qualities especially as people managers. They seem organized. But I've always felt that they were in over their heads when compared to the best in their profession in personnel evaluation, scouting, coaching, and game to game schematics. And it has especially begun to show up over the past few years.

MVP QB and this is where we are with some folks... If this is not the ultimate indictment on McBeane I don't know what is...

I would rather they did neither.

I think it's more play calling than schematics... Though I'm not thrilled with either... I do think he has them woefully unprepared at times when he's thrown a curveball... The lack of counters is mind numbing...

Man... Y'all are so close... I don't disagree about Beane... I've been biting my tongue plenty since the Oliver pick... Not that every pick has been terrible. But man there have been plenty of head scratchers and they are all coming home to roost... That being said... First and foremost, anyone who thinks McDermott does not have some sort of rubber stamp, however small or large on every single personnel move made on this team, Draft included, is kidding themselves. They are a partnership and McDermott has a massive say in who gets Drafted. Secondly... These problems the Bills have had getting over the hump have always been a combination of three things... personnel, coaching, and strategy/scheme... One may look like a bigger problem on any given week...But it's always been a combination of the 3... And that's why, for a while now, while I understand they have their strengths I have felt McBeane are in over their heads in comparison to the better coaches and GM's in the league. It's just not good enough.

Agreed... Am I allowed to go all the way back to the DK Metcalf Draft?

Well... His play is certainly affecting my attitude...

The thing is... He wasn't at GA... He took the majority of his snaps outside there... I think it was 70% in his final year in College. And I know that he was projected to slot in the NFL... But so far from what I can gather he's still taking about 40% of his snaps outside in LA... Regardless... He's way better than Coleman... And there was not a single Draft analyst I know of that had Coleman rated ahead of McConkey... Like not one...

The one thing about this team in the Dabol/Diggs/Beasley era was...you just felt like anything they dialed up in short yardage was going to work... Tonight short yardage killed us...again... The Coleman pass... The flip to Ty... The Moore fumbled handoff... Josh had Shavers wide open and the pass gets tipped... Just murdered on short down situations... It used to look easy...

It's just a thing people say... I really don't think it's a hot take... And we agree...

Hot take... The Bills D was better when Bernard went out...

Incredible...

The one to Coleman in the 1st half was terrible too.

Two dropped INT chances

They have effectively neutered Josh with this offense and now the NFL has caught up to it... So good luck Brady...