Analysis of Bills FA so far (prior to new league year) - Put your links or thoughts here

[Logic]

Seeing more Brandon Beane slander in here than I expected. I think Beane is taken for granted by many here -- certainly the ones complaining the loudest, anyway. 

How many years were the Bills an irrelevant dumpster fire, never making the playoffs, with seasons usually effectively over by Halloween? And during those years, how many times did the Bills make "big splash" moves in free agency? Pretty frequently! What good did it do them?

Come to think of it, what good does it USUALLY do teams to make "big splash" moves in free agency? Yes, the Rams and Tampa Bay are the two most recent Super Bowl winners, and yes, the recency bias of seeing that happen has caused many to forget that those types of "super teams" tend to be the exception rather than the rule. It happens much more often that the big, flashy, exciting moves don't work out and leave the teams that made them with impractical albatross contracts that they're desperate to get out of.

Khalil Mack was a big, splashy trade from the Raiders to the Bears that many here wished the Bills had done. How did the Bears do during the years he was there? How did his time with that team end? Amari Cooper was a big, exciting acquisition for the Cowboys. How many titles did he bring Dallas? How did his time with them end? 

After 17 years of absolute incompetence and awful football, the Bills hired a GM who -- along with his head coach -- have guided the Bills to four playoff seasons out of the five years they've been here, including three straight and an AFC Championship game appearance. They now routinely win 10+ games every year, are the favorites to win the AFC East, and are the 2022 AFC Super Bowl betting favorites. Furthermore, we see scores of unbiased national analysts praise the Bills every year for smart, well thought out signings and for using free agency intelligently. That, in and of itself, should not be taken for granted, as we sit here and watch other GMs hand out absolutely ridiculous contracts to mediocre players.

The reasons that I see people bashing Brandon Beane? He "plays it safe" and "Doesn't make the big splash". Riiiiiight. The guy that came in and immediately traded away big time players, cleared the salary decks, traded up for all time divisive player JOSH ALLEN (a non "playing it safe" move if ever there was one), traded for Stefon Diggs, and oversaw a team with one of the most modern, diverse, pass happy offenses in the league....THAT'S the guy you say plays it too safe? Why? Because he doesn't dole out 1st round picks for and pay huge contracts to other teams' stars?

I get it: He hasn't brought the Bills a Super Bowl title yet. But if the only thing that qualifies a GM as "good" is winning a Lombardi, then 99% of the GMs in the NFL are awful. End the Beane slander. It's madness.

[BillsVet]

15 minutes ago, boater said:

There's a lot of shade being thrown at the former NFL Executive of the Year. And this is after a season most other fans would give their left nut for.

 

Could you imagine the vitriol here if the Bills had a bad season. The fans have become spoiled.

 

For the record, Dave Gettleman won the award in 2015, Reggie McKenzie in 2016, Howie Roseman in 2017, and Ryan Pace in 2018.  

[BuffaloBill]

2 hours ago, metbill said:

I think Beane manages not to lose.  He knows we are good enough to compete/contend so why risk much more than that.  It was KC the last 2 years, now add LAC as another place we may go to see our season end.  It has been proven since Reggie White started free agency, small moves do not matter in the big picture.  We were not better than KC when it mattered, are we today?  Are we better than the Chargers or Broncos?  I dont know but there is nothing that has happened in our free agency that says we are definitely better today than the end of the season.  We are too close to not try to swing a big deal.  

 

Did the Cheats* make splash free agency moves year after year during the Brady Era? A couple or times but generally, no. The idea that big time signings = success has proven to fail more often than it works.  Your analysis and statements show a complete lack of understanding of both cap dynamics and free agency.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

22 minutes ago, boater said:

There's a lot of shade being thrown at the former NFL Executive of the Year. And this is after a season most other fans would give their left nut for.

 

Could you imagine the vitriol here if the Bills had a bad season. The fans have become spoiled.

 

Fair point.   You do have to look at the sources - some people are pretty uniformly negative and critical of everything, regardless

 

But after a "got blown out" performance in the AFCCG last season and having, statistically, the #1 overall defense this season, I think an additional block of fans are understandably salty about the way the season ended, and looking for signs that the team is committed to taking a further step and not just treading water and staying "competitive"

[Chandler#81]

24 minutes ago, boater said:

There's a lot of shade being thrown at the former NFL Executive of the Year. And this is after a season most other fans would give their left nut for.

 

Could you imagine the vitriol here if the Bills had a bad season. The fans have become spoiled.

Close.

 

They’re rotten by nature.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

6 minutes ago, BuffaloBill said:

Did the Cheats* make splash free agency moves year after year during the Brady Era? A couple or times but generally, no. The idea that big time signings = success has proven to fail more often than it works.  Your analysis and statements show a complete lack of understanding of both cap dynamics and free agency.

 

Also a fair point.  But winning cures everything.  There's a counterpoint that we haven't yet shown we can win it all, or even get to the championship as the Cheats*** did

[BuffaloBillsGospel]

I thought we did a good job of replacing the guys we lost, I like the addition of McKissic, I think he'll be huge on 3rd downs and could lessen the blow when we finally cut Beasley. 

 

We're super thin at CB right now so I'd like to see what they do here, I'm almost positive we'll select 2 corners in the draft regardless if we pick up a replacement for Wallace. I liked Dane Jackson's play last season but right now he's our CB2, kind of scary imo. It's going to take Tre a bit to get back into form and most of the time you hear it takes a full season for a player to rehab that particular injury to where they were before so we'll see. 

 

I want to hear what McDermott's plans are if we don't pick up a premiere pass rusher in FA, how is this a championship caliber defense with no legit pass rusher? Again we'll have to rely on Allen playing out of his mind scoring 45 points per game to win. Some teams are really starting to close the gap but of course if we do land that pass rusher that changes the landscape entirely.

 

No backup QB yet either, this is going to be an interesting scenario as I suspect that teams who lose out on Watson will then start looking at Garapollo and then Winston goes. I think a guy like Marcus Mariota would be a solid get for us but the injuries that guy gets are worrisome. My suggestion was Dalton but I'd prefer a guy who can run.

[ndirish1978]

I'm not particularly happy that we didn't re-sign Levi since he signed for a bag of marbles. Would be nice to have some depth at CB. I like the moves at DT, think they make us better. 

[Green Lightning]

3 hours ago, BillsVet said:

 

Exactly CT.

 

I had hopes Buffalo would be aggressive this off-season and find another elite player, but so far and through most of the 6 off-seasons they fall back on  safe decisions. The two exceptions (Allen and Diggs) when they went outside the box they found elite players.  Maybe they'll reel in a big fish this week, but seeing their foray in UFA so far I doubt it given their cap space and because...    

 

This team is built in the image of the HC re: both personnel and strategy.  It's his team and while Beane is the GM, it's not in the classic sense like most people might think.  I get the impression after all these off-seasons that Beane is just happy to go along with McCoach's theory of NFL rosters and scheme.   

Which took us to the playoffs 3 of the last 4 years after  17 years of futility. So Beane is not batting 1000, boo hoo, who does?

[Mark Vader]

32 minutes ago, BillsVet said:

 

For the record, Dave Gettleman won the award in 2015, Reggie McKenzie in 2016, Howie Roseman in 2017, and Ryan Pace in 2018.  

And the Bills are not in the same situation as those teams.

[BillsVet]

2 minutes ago, Green Lightning said:

Which took us to the playoffs 3 of the last 4 years after  17 years of futility. So Beane is not batting 1000, boo hoo, who does?

 

No one follows the team to make the playoffs.  Maybe you are, but most aren't. 

 

3 minutes ago, Mark Vader said:

And the Bills are not in the same situation as those teams.

 

Point is it's a credential people use to declare criticism unwarranted.  It shouldn't be. Kind of like NHL coach of the year...that's practically a harbinger of things to come. 

[LABILLBACKER]

4 hours ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Beane likes to go to the Porche dealership on a Saturday morning, waste the sales’ staff time making a loud show of being interested in a brand-new sporty vehicle, then get back in his comfy 2003 Honda and drive off, patting himself on the back for not unnecessarily splurging on luxury.  We do this charade every year.  On the way home he’ll stop at Chipotle and overpay for guacamole just to allow himself a li’l treat and prove that he’s not cheap.

OMG, I'd like to nominate this for response of the year. Beautiful CT.....

[billsfan1959]

1 minute ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Fair point.   You do have to look at the sources - some people are pretty uniformly negative and critical of everything, regardless

 

But after a "got blown out" performance in the AFCCG last season and having, statistically, the #1 overall defense this season, I think an additional block of fans are understandably salty about the way the season ended, and looking for signs that the team is committed to taking a further step and not just treading water and staying "competitive"

 

There is a distinct difference between wanting to win a championship while remaining competitive and being content to "just be competetive." I believe Beane and McDermott want to win a championship every bit as much as anyone else and that they have a philosophy on how to do that, while keeping that balance between the present and the future. I also believe that Beane is not averse at all to buying that "killer dress" or a shiny new "porche," as long as it fits within his philosophy. If he thinks there is a "splash signing" that will do that, then he will pull the trigger. It just isn't going to happen very often. Far more often it is going to involve gradual increases in talent across the board working toward a complete team surrounding a franchise caliber QB. 

 

It's okay that some fans do not agree with that philosophy, but the loudest ones have been critical of Beane since his arrival. There has rarely been a move they agreed with, including the pick of Allen. If we followed the advice of the ones who have been the most relentless in their criticism of Beane, we would still be mired in mediocrity searching for that franchise QB.

 

Yet, here we are with one of the most balanced rosters in the NFL and the odds on favorite to win the Super Bowl next year across virtually every sportsbook out there. 

 

I certainly haven't agreed with every move Beane has made and there are clearly decisions that didn't work out. However, he has built this team into a SB contender and, IMO, his body of work over the last four years has earned my confidence in him.

[BADOLBILZ]

1 hour ago, BillsVet said:

 

McD is the stumbling block who insists on that DL depth and Beane just fills the order.  This will become an obstacle next year when Josh's contract kicks in...because you can't keep the DL rotation McD wants, pay Josh, and have enough left over to build an elite offense.  Or, devote cap dollars to CB and LB the way they have.  

 

I had hopes McD would evolve as Josh ascended.  He hasn't and I see nothing that will. 

 

 

 

 

Yeah they really seem like they are 1 impact player away from being a SB champion right now.............they were very good in 2020..........but regardless of the final result they were a BETTER team in 2021.........they just got out-manned by KC's playmakers late in that divisional game.     

 

It's time to make that move to get 1 more game changer.

 

There is always an excuse to not go for it..........it's the easy fall back for any front office.........."they don't want to mortgage the future" becomes "well, they aren't 1 player away" pretty quick.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

21 minutes ago, billsfan1959 said:

 

There is a distinct difference between wanting to win a championship while remaining competitive and being content to "just be competetive." I believe Beane and McDermott want to win a championship every bit as much as anyone else and that they have a philosophy on how to do that, while keeping that balance between the present and the future. I also believe that Beane is not averse at all to buying that "killer dress" or a shiny new "porche," as long as it fits within his philosophy. If he thinks there is a "splash signing" that will do that, then he will pull the trigger. It just isn't going to happen very often. Far more often it is going to involve gradual increases in talent across the board working toward a complete team surrounding a franchise caliber QB. 

 

It's okay that some fans do not agree with that philosophy, but the loudest ones have been critical of Beane since his arrival. There has rarely been a move they agreed with, including the pick of Allen. If we followed the advice of the ones who have been the most relentless in their criticism of Beane, we would still be mired in mediocrity searching for that franchise QB.

 

Yet, here we are with one of the most balanced rosters in the NFL and the odds on favorite to win the Super Bowl next year across virtually every sportsbook out there. 

 

I certainly haven't agreed with every move Beane has made and there are clearly decisions that didn't work out. However, he has built this team into a SB contender and, IMO, his body of work over the last four years has earned my confidence in him.

 

Fair take overall.  I was just making the point that in addition to the "Mikeys" who "hate everything", the season ending has stirred up some impatience/angst among a different fan contingent

[par73]

Despite all the bodies, DE is still a concern. No one has shown the ability to consistently get after the QB. CB is another area. White's health is a question mark, and who plays on the other side (did Jackson show that much last year?)? Still need a receiver after losing two starters. I would assume the rest of free agency and the draft will address these concerns.

[Einstein's Dog]

For what they've addressed so far, I like it.  They tried to solidify and slightly upgrade the lines.  Looks good to me so far.

 

But the big questions haven't been tackled yet.  Need a pass rusher and another pass catcher (losing Sanders and Beas).

 

If they don't get a quality pass rusher I'll be disappointed.  They have more options this year, C Jones, D Hunter, Von Miller, Clowney.

For  pass catcher I would have preferred getting a quality TE and drafting a WR.  But the good FA TEs are pretty scarce now.

[ndirish1978]

Failure to secure a difference-maker at DE will define this offseason for me if we can't pick one up. We don't have a single marquee player and don't talk to me about how Groot looks better, he is a 2nd year player with no one playing opposite him - Boogie is not a starter and AJ could be cut and I wouldn't care. 

[Coach Tuesday]

Just to recap, Beane came out firing in his post-season PC about how the team needs to add talent at pass rusher, receiver, o-line and in the secondary.

 

So far, they've:

 

- Tried and failed to sign a 3rd down back

- Lost their starting CB and starting 3T

- Replaced the 3T with another veteran

- Added a 1T to back up Oliver

- Let their RG walk

- Signed a 34 year-old LG to a 1-year deal

- Extended their veteran center and a special teams/safety hybrid

 

Am I missing anything?  Nothing has happened.  They've done nothing.  Of course it's beyond early, they have months to patch some holes, but this is the opposite of an aggressive start to the offseason.  It's been sleepier than a Jim Jarmusch movie.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

1 hour ago, BuffaloBillsGospel said:

I thought we did a good job of replacing the guys we lost, I like the addition of McKissic, I think he'll be huge on 3rd downs

 

Not. So. Fast.