Judging Beane’s decisions so far

[Canadian Bills Fan]

On ‎9‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 9:22 AM, plenzmd1 said:

9-7 last year, playoffs, two first-round selections in the top 16...10 picks next year and over $60M in space with your presumed franchise QB under cost control for the next 5 years. 

 

Seems pretty good to me so far

 

 

I don't even need to read anything further in this thread.

 

 

This is all you need to read right here

[Straight Hucklebuck]

I want to see Beane and McDermott build a modern passing offense, and that will take time. 

 

When I hear McDermott talking about running the ball in snowy Buffalo, that doesn't match with the investment they made in rocket armed Josh Allen. At some point you would think they would want to take this offense more vertical. To do that they're going to need speed on the outside, with a real Tight End. 

 

Beane paid a premium for Allen and Edmunds, and so in the short term, those two need to be good. We spent Glenn, #12, #22, #53, #56 and #65 for Allen, Edmunds and Siran Neal.

[reddogblitz]

On 9/3/2018 at 12:09 PM, joesixpack said:

 

His preseason was pretty forgettable.

 

 

Ivory didn't play much. Made some nice plays. A good receiver. What did you expect to see? 20 carries for 101?

On 9/3/2018 at 12:19 PM, ColoradoBills said:

 

Good points but I would like to add a couple of things.

1.  Spending Cap $'s in 2019.  I think Beane is patient and conservative.  It would not surprise me to see him save 20+ million

for the 2020 FA season. 

2.  2018 FA signing.  Agree with the Star Murphy points but I think Davis was nothing but a plug for this year.

 

he stays this patient and puts a losing season of two together he'll be out on his bum. I would suggest he get a sense of urgency.

Edited September 5, 2018 by reddogblitz

[reddogblitz]

On 9/3/2018 at 2:21 PM, blacklabel said:

Find a franchise QB. Check. (Hey look at that, no "timeline in my head" on that one! Wow.)

 

Definitely NOT a check at this point. They've swung. That's it.

 

What happened to the 3 year time line?

[blacklabel]

9 hours ago, reddogblitz said:

 

Definitely NOT a check at this point. They've swung. That's it.

 

What happened to the 3 year time line?

 

CHECK!

 

I said GOOD DAY, sir!

[ColoradoBills]

12 hours ago, reddogblitz said:

 

 

he stays this patient and puts a losing season of two together he'll be out on his bum. I would suggest he get a sense of urgency.

 

I guess my point was I don't think he will spend that 90 million like a drunken sailor.  LOL

 

Personally I hope there are decent OL FAs available to spend some of that on.

Lots of teams looking for OL every year.

That's why I thought they needed to get at least 1 starter this year.

[CuddyDark]

On ‎9‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 9:11 PM, Bills Pimpin' said:

Which free agent signings are you saying look bad? I hope you are not talking about any players that haven't played a real game yet. That would be ignorant.

It would be just as ignorant to say they looked like good singing in preseason or no?

[BillsfanAZ]

On 9/4/2018 at 4:55 AM, oldmanfan said:

He has focused on getting the two most important positions on the team:  QB and MLB.  Both these kids have the potential to be long time fixtures on the Bills.  Time will tell.

 

Otherwise, I think we now have a combination of HC and GM that are in synch, and that have a firm idea of how they intend to build a team that will be consistently good.  To do that, they have moved out some guys with large salaries they felt would not fit the idea they have for a team.  Some I agree with (such as Dareus), others I didn't (such as Watkins).  Beane and McD have hit on some FAs and missed on others, similar to what most GMs do.

 

The area I would criticize is that he has not focused more attention up front.  It was not his fault of course that Wood came up with a career ending injury, or that Richie went off the rails (although one could kind of see that coming).  But as one who has always felt you win football games up front, I am disappointed more effort has not been used to build the O line especially, and the D line (at DE specifically). 

 

I think you have to give Beane and McD a number of years to actually let their plan work or not work.  To me the constant turnover in team management since 2000 has been responsible for the long period of failure.  Let them get the players they feel they need to work their plan, and then see if their plan works.  GIve them 5 years at least.

I agree with what you have said...especially the 5 yr plan. The Oline needs attention but I am not sure what Beane could have done about it this offseason. The Bills chose to spend money on the Dline. Hopefully that pays off. After the high dollar  Olineman signings, the talent pool was mediocre. At that time only Wood retired. So Bodine was signed. By the time Incognito retired, the Bills couldnt do much to replace him. I think the Bills got their guys in the first three rounds of the draft. Next year will be addressing needs through the draft and free agency. 

[PeterDude]

On ‎9‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 9:55 AM, Jpsredemption said:

Acquiring draft picks and then lighting them on fire. That goes for McD and Beane. They talk about draft capital and then go ahead and trade picks away.

 

I agree with this.  The previous Sabres GM did the same thing.  I'm not a fan of trading up, it's so wasteful.

[liverpoolkev]

On ‎9‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 9:29 AM, CuddyDark said:

Honestly none of this has anything to do with Beane. Beane's test starts this season. It's his roster to build. His free agents and draft picks. Last years roster was 90% Whaley.

Don't blame this crap of a team on Whaley... He would never have a Tolbert or  Kelvin Benjamin basically a hurt TE as a number 1 WR.... Whaley tried to design his team using the Steelers blue print was ready to CHOOSE Deshaun Watson  but was chopped at the knees by the  pagula's  who seem to like dysfunction ie …SABRES,…..Mcbean want church going small , old  choir boys....When your GM biggest free agent grab is a hurt pass rusher in Murphy and overpaying for a D-tackle only because they went to Carolina. Lets not even start talking about the coaching staff... You wonder why the line is so bad , We had one of the best o-line  coaches in the game to a person that got the job because he knew  mcbeane....  

 

I wished this gm could trade a WHO CARE LB from the Bills for a Jerry Hughes or maybe trade a Kiko for a SHADY MCCOY...…..  I WOULD RATHER HAVE WATSON OVER A BLAKE BORTLES WANNA BE  

     

Edited September 5, 2018 by liverpoolkev

[Bills Pimpin']

2 hours ago, CuddyDark said:

It would be just as ignorant to say they looked like good singing in preseason or no?

Sure would.

[Ayjent]

1 hour ago, BillsfanAZ said:

I agree with what you have said...especially the 5 yr plan. The Oline needs attention but I am not sure what Beane could have done about it this offseason. The Bills chose to spend money on the Dline. Hopefully that pays off. After the high dollar  Olineman signings, the talent pool was mediocre. At that time only Wood retired. So Bodine was signed. By the time Incognito retired, the Bills couldnt do much to replace him. I think the Bills got their guys in the first three rounds of the draft. Next year will be addressing needs through the draft and free agency. 

To me there is a huge inconsistency in the plan getting a QB without addressing the OL at the same time or before.  What's the plan with the new QB with a crap OL?  How is that supposed to work?  I'm not saying that they shouldn't have got their QB, but addressing the OL without moving up for Edmunds would have been possible and wiser.  Edmunds and Allen have to pan out for Beane to look like he knows what he is doing because he spent a ton of draft assets on both and jettisoned a starting QB and starting level LT to get part of the ransom used for Edmunds and Allen.  They also knew that Incognito and Wood were not going to be part of the plan and they had a huge hole there at the time of the draft - at least get one interior lineman in the first 3 rounds of the draft.  To me those are self-inflicted wounds that don't build a foundation - they just replaced proven talent for unproven talent and used their stock of picks to acquire fewer players than they could have.  Sure they coveted these players, but as everyone acknowledges you never know with draft picks and having more picks means more chances to hit on a good one. 

 

The Bills drafted what they anticipate to be franchise players, but they aren't putting them in a good situation to succeed off the bat - a bad OL and thrusting a 20 yr old into the starting MLB role with a DL that gets about as much pressure as Patriots footballs.

Edited September 5, 2018 by Ayjent

[Straight Hucklebuck]

1 hour ago, BillsfanAZ said:

I agree with what you have said...especially the 5 yr plan. The Oline needs attention but I am not sure what Beane could have done about it this offseason. The Bills chose to spend money on the Dline. Hopefully that pays off. After the high dollar  Olineman signings, the talent pool was mediocre. At that time only Wood retired. So Bodine was signed. By the time Incognito retired, the Bills couldnt do much to replace him. I think the Bills got their guys in the first three rounds of the draft. Next year will be addressing needs through the draft and free agency. 

Remember when Buddy Nix was talking about how the Bills weren't that far away in 2010? You say all this like the Bills will get better in the draft and take other teams free agents and get better. All other 31 teams have the same avenue for growth as well. 

 

BillsfanAZ - I think you need to see that this is a complete rebuild from the ground up. There is little offensive talent on this roster, with 2 of the 3 key cogs being Whaley holdovers. 

 

Beane cashed in #12, #53, #56, #65 for Allen and Edmunds. 

 

They'll need numerous hits next year in the draft and FA to fill all those holes on this team. 

 

Years of bad drafting and purging the roster of anything Doug Whaley means we are staring at a complete rebuild. 

 

ALLEN is the only ticket for this team to really get good anytime soon. If he's not, we're a Bottom 10 team regardless of McDermott's elite culture, draft picks and cap space. 

[BillsfanAZ]

1 hour ago, Ayjent said:

To me there is a huge inconsistency in the plan getting a QB without addressing the OL at the same time or before.  What's the plan with the new QB with a crap OL?  How is that supposed to work?  I'm not saying that they shouldn't have got their QB, but addressing the OL without moving up for Edmunds would have been possible and wiser.  Edmunds and Allen have to pan out for Beane to look like he knows what he is doing because he spent a ton of draft assets on both and jettisoned a starting QB and starting level LT to get part of the ransom used for Edmunds and Allen.  They also knew that Incognito and Wood were not going to be part of the plan and they had a huge hole there at the time of the draft - at least get one interior lineman in the first 3 rounds of the draft.  To me those are self-inflicted wounds that don't build a foundation - they just replaced proven talent for unproven talent and used their stock of picks to acquire fewer players than they could have.  Sure they coveted these players, but as everyone acknowledges you never know with draft picks and having more picks means more chances to hit on a good one. 

 

The Bills drafted what they anticipate to be franchise players, but they aren't putting them in a good situation to succeed off the bat - a bad OL and thrusting a 20 yr old into the starting MLB role with a DL that gets about as much pressure as Patriots footballs.

So are you saying the Bills shouldnt have moved up to get two players that were ranked in the top ten overall? Should they have given up their first next year instead of the draft capital this year? You cant move up to get a potential starting QB without paying for it. Beane made all his moves so he was able to move up to get a QB. You cant fix a whole team in one offseason. 

1 hour ago, Straight Hucklebuck said:

Remember when Buddy Nix was talking about how the Bills weren't that far away in 2010? You say all this like the Bills will get better in the draft and take other teams free agents and get better. All other 31 teams have the same avenue for growth as well. 

 

BillsfanAZ - I think you need to see that this is a complete rebuild from the ground up. There is little offensive talent on this roster, with 2 of the 3 key cogs being Whaley holdovers. 

 

Beane cashed in #12, #53, #56, #65 for Allen and Edmunds. 

 

They'll need numerous hits next year in the draft and FA to fill all those holes on this team. 

 

Years of bad drafting and purging the roster of anything Doug Whaley means we are staring at a complete rebuild. 

 

ALLEN is the only ticket for this team to really get good anytime soon. If he's not, we're a Bottom 10 team regardless of McDermott's elite culture, draft picks and cap space. 

If Allen and Edmonds grow into great players then nobody will care what was given up for them. I would rather they traded some 2nd and 3rd picks to get two top ten players rather than have one top player and three other players that are down in the rankings at their position.  The Bills were not going to get their future QB and rebuild an offense in one offseason...might not even be able to do it in two. Next year they will have a lot of cap room and extra picks to improve the roster.

[Bing Bong]

On 9/2/2018 at 8:31 AM, Rc2catch said:

I kinda get the sense people want to run this guy out of town already without even being close to the finished product.

Because the current product isn't good Bob! 

[Rc2catch]

1 hour ago, PetermanThrew5Picks said:

Because the current product isn't good Bob! 

 

Why? Cause you don’t think so? Cause national media writers don’t think so? 

They haven’t played a game this year, haven’t played the season out. How can you judge, or grade the team assembled without them even playing? After trades etc etc last season most thought they were bottom of the league. 

So how can you say the product isn’t good? 

[Norcalbillsfan]

On 9/2/2018 at 6:22 AM, plenzmd1 said:

9-7 last year, playoffs, two first-round selections in the top 16...10 picks next year and over $60M in space with your presumed franchise QB under cost control for the next 5 years. 

 

Seems pretty good to me so far

Agree, so far I like the direction we are headed. We can start addressing trenches in drafts. Start building, not chasing a franchise qb. (If allen works out obviously)

[Ayjent]

16 hours ago, BillsfanAZ said:

So are you saying the Bills shouldnt have moved up to get two players that were ranked in the top ten overall? Should they have given up their first next year instead of the draft capital this year? You cant move up to get a potential starting QB without paying for it. Beane made all his moves so he was able to move up to get a QB. You cant fix a whole team in one offseason. 

If Allen and Edmonds grow into great players then nobody will care what was given up for them. I would rather they traded some 2nd and 3rd picks to get two top ten players rather than have one top player and three other players that are down in the rankings at their position.  The Bills were not going to get their future QB and rebuild an offense in one offseason...might not even be able to do it in two. Next year they will have a lot of cap room and extra picks to improve the roster.

I'm saying that they shouldn't have done both.  The move for the QB I understand.  The move for Edmunds I don't - first he is really young and there were glaring defects in his game at VT - it's not like he was wrecking opposing teams offense on the regular.  Second, he is a combine workout warrior at this point - looks the physical part, with a ton of upside (not realized yet) - but as you can see his athleticism is his crutch and he needs to be much better at diagnosing the action after the snap.   Third, the investment in the QB makes a lot less sense when you don't address glaring needs on the line that you could have and how is he supposed to develop with poor protection.  We are not talking about low tier draft picks that they gave up, we are talking about picks that commonly result in good quality starting players, especially for interior linemen.

 

My point is that everyone wants to say rebuilding, but the deficiencies on the OL could have been addressed, but they thought having a 20 yr old MLB thrust into a starting role with basically no competition was a better choice.  Hey maybe Edmunds ends up being a perennial all pro, and I hope he does.  But this is an offense driven league and they only thing that's happened to the Offense since McDermott has been hired is that it has progressive gotten worse - they have hope that Allen will be better than Tyrod, but as of right now that is not the case.  The WR position outside of Benjamin is a joke.  McCoy is getting older.  The OL is a mess.  TE is probably the only position that they are marginally improved at with better depth.  Are you saying that Beane couldn't have done a better job on the Offensive side of the ball this offseason?

14 hours ago, Norcalbillsfan said:

Agree, so far I like the direction we are headed. We can start addressing trenches in drafts. Start building, not chasing a franchise qb. (If allen works out obviously)

Pegula run teams have a good track record with setting themselves up with young unproven talent, good draft picks and money, right?  This isn't the NBA where you make a run on good players in FA.  You have to keep a solid core of talent as much as possible, because it takes a lot of luck and effort to rebuild an NFL team from the ground up.  If the Bills had a lot of really good young guys coming out of their rookie contracts the cap room would be great, but they really don't have that issue unless they want to keep Benjamin.  So what will they do go crazy in FA where teams always overpay for players and put themselves back in to the same predicament they just got out of?  How have the FA signings gone so far under Beane - who is a steal?  Poyer and Hyde were good pickups but those happened before Beane and the rest are highly questionable outside of finding Murphy.

Edited September 6, 2018 by Ayjent

[HappyDays]

45 minutes ago, Ayjent said:

My point is that everyone wants to say rebuilding, but the deficiencies on the OL could have been addressed, but they thought having a 20 yr old MLB thrust into a starting role with basically no competition was a better choice. 

 

They know they aren't winning the Super Bowl this year. They got their hopeful franchise QB and MLB now to give them a year of experience before we are ready to seriously compete. I expect Edmunds to make rookie mistakes this season but that's fine, we can afford that right now. If Peterman doesn't improbably take the league by storm Allen will probably play in the back half of the season and get some on-field experience of his own. This season is about preparing for the future. Next year we have a full draft and $65 million in cap space to fix our holes.

[Ayjent]

2 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

They know they aren't winning the Super Bowl this year. They got their hopeful franchise QB and MLB now to give them a year of experience before we are ready to seriously compete. I expect Edmunds to make rookie mistakes this season but that's fine, we can afford that right now. If Peterman doesn't improbably take the league by storm Allen will probably play in the back half of the season and get some on-field experience of his own. This season is about preparing for the future. Next year we have a full draft and $65 million in cap space to fix our holes.

Still not sure how they are going to address the holes without getting into the same issues they just purged themselves of.  They already sunk a good amount of money into Star and I'm not sure that is an upgrade at the position. 

 

The draft picks take time to develop and the FAs are overpriced cap eaters - so they need to better than average with the draft picks for this to work.  Lots of hubris in the way they gutted the team - lets see if they can follow through.  I'm skeptical about it that's all.  I also think that people thought that they would address a lot of holes this year with all of the picks - let's see what they do next year. 

 

It's not like this team was in a terrible place when Beane and McDermott took over - it had cap issues with big contracts, but it wasn't barren of talent and there was a decent core of players.  Last year was a testament to that - because the remaining players that weren't shipped off were the main contributors of the team.  Now there are even less of those guys and you'd be hard pressed to say they've improved the talent or even back filled a lot of it with stellar picks or marquee FAs.  Having all of that cap room - how do you see them spending it?

Edited September 6, 2018 by Ayjent