muppy Posted July 5, 2021 Posted July 5, 2021 10 minutes ago, Giuseppe Tognarelli said: "It's something unfavorable about the Bills, so it must be clickbait. I'm too fragile to handle anything but glowing praise about my team and every one of its players." its not so much bashing this guys opinion about players its certainly his right...but to openly state they are presumed failures after not even a snap of training camp or season I reiterate what I think of this article pfffttt
GunnerBill Posted July 5, 2021 Posted July 5, 2021 (edited) 23 minutes ago, Thurman#1 said: Enough with the clickbait argument. Not everything we disagree with is clickbait. Simms doesn't operate that way. He wants to be a GM some day, that's what he's working towards. Clickbait will not help him. He does disagree with the common wisdom a pretty fair amount. But he never denies it later or says he's sure of it. He simply says what he feels. Plenty of room to disagree with him. He's been on target pretty well with QBs, even when he's not taking a popular stance. A bit less so with non-QBs, but he's still pretty smart. I'm hopeful but not convinced on both guys. He could easily be right. Or the folks, yourself included, who disagree could just as easily be right. My problem personally is that I can see it either way. Drives me crazy. Beane and the Bills are smart and good drafters. But not perfect, nobody is. I just don't know, myself. He absolutely was very strongly a Josh believer far before last season. Even back to his rookie year. While I agree with almost all of this I'd be surprised actually if Simms is gunning for a GM job. This same FMIA piece alludes to him quitting coaching after one year with New England because he didn't enjoy the grind and missed his kids (and I have heard it from other sources as well that he really suffered with exhaustion after the fact). Admittedly his kids are older now but I wonder if Simms really wants the grind. He has a great job he has seen how well media worked out for his dad, I suspect he is content in the media. He has forged a good reputation for himself in that game without the pressure and the stress and the hours of a general manager. Edited July 5, 2021 by GunnerBill 1 1
BADOLBILZ Posted July 5, 2021 Posted July 5, 2021 Rousseau is a very high ceiling prospect.......I am a big supporter of the pick.......but it was not a "safe" pick. You can go broke in the NFL draft just trying to make a profit, though. The NFL truly escalated into a passing league with the rules changes in 2010..........and before that the Bills had spent about half of all of their first round picks on defensive backs(in a running league) and running backs (when they were a dime-a-dozen). They nailed a ton of those picks..........but often struggled to fill the more difficult to fill positions. Long term you are better off investing that first round pick in a high ceiling talent at a premium $ position............which is what they did with Rousseau and Basham and Epenesa. Said it many times.......the Bills played their first playoff game in 17 years in Jacksonville in January 2018 and in that game the only one of their first round picks on the field was the newest one, Tre White. The 2017 team was proof that you can be a playoff team without making successful first round picks every year.........the object should be getting potential franchise cornerstone, $20M/yr type players with early picks so you can be a legit SB contender. 1 2
LABILLBACKER Posted July 5, 2021 Posted July 5, 2021 Sims should stick to his specialty. I don't expect either to be Bruce nor do I expect them to be Maybin busts. They'll contribute and be decent players. 2
DCbillsfan Posted July 5, 2021 Posted July 5, 2021 Taking Rousseau definitely has an element of risk. As others have said, he only played one season and had 15.5 sacks. If he had two seasons with those numbers, he wouldn't have lasted as long as he did. All draft picks have some element of risk. Rousseau has freakish length and seems like a good kid. I trust McD and his staff in coaching up Rousseau.
HappyDays Posted July 5, 2021 Posted July 5, 2021 (edited) I like that Chris Simms is willing to put himself out there. I don't always agree with his opinions and he certainly isn't always right, but he explains himself well. I think what he is missing with Rousseau is the reportedly high work ethic. Everyone agrees Rousseau is a project and was not a complete player in his one year starting. McDermott and Beane are betting on him to develop. It's a little boring and safe to pick bottom of the 2nd round players as potential busts. After the first 50 picks or so, especially in a relatively weak draft like this one, every pick has major flaws in their game. The Bills aren't banking on Basham becoming an elite pass rusher. If he makes it as a rotational starter this year, that would be a plus. I think Toney will bust, not because he lacks talent (I was extremely high on him as a potential Bills pick a few months ago), but because he is a head case with major questions about his character. The more you read about him he just seems like a weird guy that isn't going to put football first. I don't know how much Chris Simms weighs that sort of thing in his analysis, but I would bet on a person like Rousseau over a person like Toney 10 times out of 10. Edited July 5, 2021 by HappyDays 1
BADOLBILZ Posted July 5, 2021 Posted July 5, 2021 25 minutes ago, GunnerBill said: While I agree with almost all of this I'd be surprised actually if Simms is gunning for a GM job. This same FMIA piece alludes to him quitting coaching after one year with New England because he didn't enjoy the grind and missed his kids (and I have heard it from other sources as well that he really suffered with exhaustion after the fact). Admittedly his kids are older now but I wonder if Simms really wants the grind. He has a great job he has seen how well media worked out for his dad, I suspect he is content in the media. He has forged a good reputation for himself in that game without the pressure and the stress and the hours of a general manager. Everyone knows that scouts aren't paid a lot............well, GM's aren't getting $20M per year either.........more like $2M-$3M...........(though the Pegula's have a history of paying way over market on occasion like the $25M deal to Rex and the $5M per they gave that soccer coach to be their hockey coach). Simms grew up in a wealthy family........and made some pro money and has a cushy job........that GM kinda' money for that GM kinda' stress isn't as attractive as it would be for a guy who worked himself up thru the ranks. 1
GunnerBill Posted July 5, 2021 Posted July 5, 2021 1 minute ago, BADOLBILZ said: Everyone knows that scouts aren't paid a lot............well, GM's aren't getting $20M per year either.........more like $2M-$3M...........(though the Pegula's have a history of paying way over market on occasion like the $25M deal to Rex and the $5M per they gave that soccer coach to be their hockey coach). Simms grew up in a wealthy family........and made some pro money and has a cushy job........that GM kinda' money for that GM kinda' stress isn't as attractive as it would be for a guy who worked himself up thru the ranks. Haha agreed. But that Ralph guy was never a soccer coach. He was the Russ Brandon figurehead type at Southampton. He served as their Chairman, they never let him near the coaching. That said it sounds like he was never much of a hockey coach either 🤣 1
thurst44 Posted July 5, 2021 Posted July 5, 2021 4 hours ago, costrovs said: I'm feeling pretty confident about Rousseau. I remember when we drafted him, people on this board were like, 'oh all his sacks were coverage sacks, that doesn't count.' Or something to that effect. Really?!? That's funny because that's perfect for when McD runs his cover 3 and only has 4 people on the line and doesn't blitz a 5th player. One of the best quotes from Sean when he was talking about Rousseau after we drafted him was "you don't just luck into 15.5 sacks." Agreed! The flipside of the whole he's a raw player with only one year at his position is that he was second to Chase Young (just one QB takedown behind) in sacks in the whole country the first year he ever played that position. 1
Billy Claude Posted July 5, 2021 Posted July 5, 2021 Pre-draft, Rousseau was regarded as a high ceiling, low floor type of prospect so it is hardly surprising that he would be on some people's most likely to bust list. Also putting the next to last first rounder on his most likely to bust list is hardly a good way to get clicks. Much more effective click-bait if Simms picked someone who was drafted in the top ten. i
Hapless Bills Fan Posted July 5, 2021 Posted July 5, 2021 Just now, Billy Claude said: Pre-draft, Rousseau was regarded as a high ceiling, low floor type of prospect so it is hardly surprising that he would be on some people's most likely to bust list. Also putting the next to last first rounder on his most likely to bust list is hardly a good way to get clicks. Much more effective click-bait if Simms picked someone who was drafted in the top ten. i It's click-bait because 1) the Bills were in the AFC championship game and pretty clearly needed better QB pressure to go further. So 2nd-guessing their efforts in that regard is news 2) Brandon Beane just won several awards as the Bills GM, including Sporting News Executive of the Year and PFWA Executive of the Year. So 2nd-guessing his top-two draft picks is "edgy" The question is: how does a GM with limited cap $$ and drafting at #30 improve at a premium position? He likely got out-bid for any FA in whom he had interest. The obvious answer seems to me: 1) take a chance on a couple of raw, high-ceiling low-floor FA like Efe Obada 2) take a chance on a couple of raw, high-ceilng low-floor draft prospects like Rousseau and Basham. 4
White Linen Posted July 5, 2021 Posted July 5, 2021 We're not the lucky ones he was right about Allen - he is.
Buffalo Barbarian Posted July 5, 2021 Posted July 5, 2021 Not a Rousseau fan, just dont see that explosiveness off the snap from him, gonna have to do a lot of scheming for him. I like Basham better but dont think he will be great , just solid.
Utah John Posted July 5, 2021 Posted July 5, 2021 The Bills have not done a good job evaluating DL personnel. I think they grabbed Epenesa, Rousseau, and Basham and hoped that at least one of them will pan out to be a top-level player. It's like playing three bingo cards at once. There are no guarantees with drafted players, so let's load up and see what develops. We really need only one of these guys to excel. If two or three do, well that will be great, but they really need at least one to be a strong player.
Buffalo Barbarian Posted July 5, 2021 Posted July 5, 2021 (edited) 18 minutes ago, Utah John said: The Bills have not done a good job evaluating DL personnel. I think they grabbed Epenesa, Rousseau, and Basham and hoped that at least one of them will pan out to be a top-level player. It's like playing three bingo cards at once. There are no guarantees with drafted players, so let's load up and see what develops. We really need only one of these guys to excel. If two or three do, well that will be great, but they really need at least one to be a strong player. Lots of hype around Epenesa this spring from the coaches about how he transformed his physique and play on the field. Hopefully that translates to games this fall. Edited July 5, 2021 by Buffalo Barbarian
starrymessenger Posted July 5, 2021 Posted July 5, 2021 I like what little I’ve seen of Rousseau’s gametape. I think he will gain a lot of leverage from using his length. He’s not Bruce Smith but I think he will find ways to make himself an unwelcome guest in the opponents backfield and disruptive in defending both the running and passing games. Basham I have no opinion on but clearly Bills had him high on their board. I don’t expect either of these guys to be more than bit players this year. Basham may be able to contribute more because he is big enuf to play now. Rousseau really needs to bulk up. I get that he’s 6/6 but I saw him recently standing next to Calais Campbell. He looked like a guy with one stripe on his pajama. 1
Patrick Duffy Posted July 5, 2021 Posted July 5, 2021 Just now, Buffalo Barbarian said: Lots of hype around Epenesa this spring from coaches about how he transformed his physique and play on the field. Yeah that's the talk. Also the INT he got off Josh and took it for a TD I believe? I'm pretty excited to see for myself. 1
BillsfaninSB Posted July 5, 2021 Posted July 5, 2021 Easy to label Greg as a future bust. Anyone could predict him and feel justified about it. That was built-in with the pick and the Bills know it. I hope I’m wrong but don’t love the selection. Still can’t believe the Bills skipped on Jenkins or Moore.
Allen2D̶i̶g̶g̶s̶TBD Posted July 5, 2021 Posted July 5, 2021 (edited) The draft is a crapshoot. Busts are even more common at the pass-rusher position and half the guys taken in the first two rounds will be completely ineffective at the NFL level. Rousseau and Basham both have the physical gifts to be successful, now it's all about work ethic. McDermott will make them earn every rep they get. After seeing how sparingly he played Epenesa last year, I wouldn't be shocked if they each get about 20% of the snaps in their rookie year. The only way that number gets significantly higher is if Hughes/Addison get injured or traded, or possibly if we use them as interior rushers on 3rd downs. If they get 10 sacks combined this season I would be very happy. Edited July 5, 2021 by Allen2Diggs
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