Reported Bills UDFA signing - 11 signed, 3 Camp Invites *Updated* 09:32 (4 open spots)

[biggerdaddynj]

Sorry haven’t read whole thread but when talking UDFAs who have been favorites on TBD I’d have to say Da'Rick Rogers was a fun one (sorry if his name already popped up as it should each year for ***** and giggles).

Edited May 1, 2022 by biggerdaddynj

[Hapless Bills Fan]

1 hour ago, BobbyC81 said:

From what’s come from the Bills, there will be no competing with Spencer Brown.

 

*Ahem*

 

I'm sure the Bills have the intent that Spencer Brown did enough in 2021 to be written in as the starting RT before the 2022 season.  He struggled at time and showed flaws, but if he makes the ordinary progression and develops as most 2nd year players do, we should good at RT

 

I'm sure the Bills had the intent that Daryl Williams did enough in 2020 to be written in as the starting RT before the 2021 season.  He had a good year in 2020.  Then the 2021 season began, and he pretty much sucked.  So his name got crossed out at RT and Spencer Brown got the gig.

 

Bottom line, there will be no competing with Spencer Brown, until/unless competing is needed.

 

 

[mannc]

9 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

 

The offense had the aforementioned issues..........and literally scored only 9 points in a devastating loss to the worst team in the entire f*cking NFL............so THEY definitely weren't GREAT.

 

 

You’re too kind…the Bills only scored 6 points against the Jags…if they had scored 9, they might have forced OT

Edited May 1, 2022 by mannc

[Turk71]

Bring in OT Diesch and C/G West from ASU if they are available

[BillsFanForever19]

1 hour ago, Turk71 said:

Bring in OT Diesch and C/G West from ASU if they are available

 

Diesch signed with the Dolphins, West with the 49ers. Top UDFA's sign quickly.

[GunnerBill]

Obviously Wydermyer but also Travon Fuller are the two interesting names on that list that I'd say have a chance. Obviously they drafted two corners which makes a roster spot for Fuller tricky but he is a good player. 

 

I'm a little frustrated that there is still no attempt to find a genuine outside receiver even as an UDFA. 

Edited May 1, 2022 by GunnerBill

[CorkScrewHill]

Wydermyer pre-draft write-up before combine testing imploded his stock. Well detailed overview

 

https://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/lists/cowboys-jalen-wydermyer-2022-draft-prospect-profile/

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

8 hours ago, BTB said:

Quantity does not equal quality.  If any of Bates-Morse-Saffold go down for any period of time, you better hope that Kromer is a miracle worker. 

It is very hard to get better depth than Boettger and Ford. Both of these players have tons of starting experience, which is more than most teams can say of their backups.

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

8 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

apparently one reason he dropped was, literally, drops in 2021?

 

https://www.nfl.com/prospects/jalen-wydermyer/32005759-4420-7645-e2fb-d732d109ac25https://www.nfl.com/prospects/jalen-wydermyer/32005759-4420-7645-e2fb-d732d109ac25

 

 

Ah.  Permit me to point out a little contradiction. 

 

If guard is not a premium position, and you don't want to use a high pick on it (1st or 2nd round), fine

But later round picks often take a year or two to develop into pro-level talents

 

There are guys who come in like Trey Smith for KC and play very well as rookies

 

Question since you appear to have studied the matter:

how many of the starting guards in the NFL who were drafted in later rounds, actually played very well their first season, or even first 2 seasons?

how many took 1-2 season to develop?

 

Wyatt Teller started looking like "all that and a bag of Chips" his 3rd year in the league

 

 

I don't think I suggested that we should use a late-round pick; you could address the position in free agency next year just like you did this year, or you could do something like a 2nd rounder and a 5th rounder for added depth. The point is that people are hooting and hollering about guard and it's premature. I think what it really is is a lack of trust in Bates and pure unadulterated disdain for Ford; frankly, a lot of Bills fans are just mad at him and have developed the flawed belief that he isn't even good enough to be a depth player. I saw someone upthread (or maybe it was another thread) say something like, "You seriously think we can't get a UDFA guard who's better than Ford?" It's crazy. Just listen to Beane the other night. Like I've said, the team still believes in Ford.

[BuffaloBill]

8 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I am hoping he is the Second Coming of Coach Scar

 

 

It's a bad day when I find myself agreeing with ScottLaw but I'm forced to agree that the depth on OL appears tenuous at this point.

 

 

The Bills may also be playing - wait out the cuts - game.  While on the surface you hate the idea of picking up another team’s cut down, it happens every year.  Good players get cut because of money or scheme fit.  Maybe the Bills will add depth via this route.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

3 hours ago, BuffaloBill said:

 

 

The Bills may also be playing - wait out the cuts - game.  While on the surface you hate the idea of picking up another team’s cut down, it happens every year.  Good players get cut because of money or scheme fit.  Maybe the Bills will add depth via this route.

it’s a possibility.  But the new league rules with only one cutdown make this harder and riskier

 

Edit: If the league does again what they did last season where 5 players are cut after Preseason Game 1 and 5 more after preseason Game 2, that helps I guess - but those are usually the bottom of the roster unless there's a salary cap sacrifice to extend someone else.

 

Also I guess there may be salary cap cuts or players available for trade after the draft - maybe?

 

Essentially in signing Saffold and Quessenbury, we signed the Titans salary cap cut downs.

[todd]

7 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

I love the Von Miller signing..........but that was only part of their spending spree on defense.

 

I'm underwhelmed by the relative amount of assets that they've put into addressing the offensive side of the ball...........which had systemic problems that only using Josh Allen like a RB down the stretch really resolved.    That approach is obviously not sustainable.

 

I like the Von Miller for Hughes/Addison swap A LOT better than old man Saffold for the more reliable/available Daryl Williams.

 

Seems to me they are putting ENORMOUS trust in Aaron Kromer and Ken Dorsey.    It's almost like they believe the struggles were all due to Daboll.     

 No disagreement here. I’m betting they fill things out a bit with post-draft vet FAs.

[Doc]

1 hour ago, BuffaloBill said:

The Bills may also be playing - wait out the cuts - game.  While on the surface you hate the idea of picking up another team’s cut down, it happens every year.  Good players get cut because of money or scheme fit.  Maybe the Bills will add depth via this route.

 
I have no doubt they will. And I think the Daryl Williams is still in play to return. 

[GunnerBill]

7 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

Seems to me they are putting ENORMOUS trust in Aaron Kromer and Ken Dorsey.    It's almost like they believe the struggles were all due to Daboll.     

 

And if they believe that, they are wrong. 

[MrEpsYtown]

1 hour ago, BuffaloBill said:

 

 

The Bills may also be playing - wait out the cuts - game.  While on the surface you hate the idea of picking up another team’s cut down, it happens every year.  Good players get cut because of money or scheme fit.  Maybe the Bills will add depth via this route.

Yes 100%. Beane said in his presser there are still vets out there who are yet to be signed that they are watching. He also mentioned people getting cut right after the draft and those are other avenues to fill depth. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

1 hour ago, Giuseppe Tognarelli said:

I don't think I suggested that we should use a late-round pick; you could address the position in free agency next year just like you did this year, or you could do something like a 2nd rounder and a 5th rounder for added depth. The point is that people are hooting and hollering about guard and it's premature. I think what it really is is a lack of trust in Bates and pure unadulterated disdain for Ford; frankly, a lot of Bills fans are just mad at him and have developed the flawed belief that he isn't even good enough to be a depth player. I saw someone upthread (or maybe it was another thread) say something like, "You seriously think we can't get a UDFA guard who's better than Ford?" It's crazy. Just listen to Beane the other night. Like I've said, the team still believes in Ford.

 

Great, the team believes in Ford.  But every time he's had the opportunity to start, he's played himself onto the bench quite promptly.  Beane said off-season last year he felt he was one of our best 5.  That wasn't true.  If this was because of injury, then he's injured too often to rely upon.  I'd like to believe in Ford, he seems to be an estimable young man, but when the Bills have relied upon him he's let us down.  But I'm not going to argue another person's words here.

 

It's really not about the quality of the backups, it's about whether Beane's done enough to upgrade the starting OL.

 

Here's the thing, Giuseppe: the OL last season ranged from mediocre to tire fire.  People attribute the up-tick in rushing yards to Bates subbing for injured Boettger.   That's not quite true.  They improved to mediocre and we ran OK at the end of the season in part because we used Allen as our best RB, running him an average of 9x per game.  That's not sustainable if we want him to have a long career.  We also used Tommy Doyle as a 2nd TE and benched Tommy Sweeney.  We also used a fullback more.  That's great, but these changes take targets for Josh off the field and make it more likely he'll have to scramble to convert 1st downs.

 

In his post season presser, Beane referred to Dawkins-Bates-Morse-Williams-Brown as "a starting point". 

 

Either you feel Dawkins-Saffold-Morse-Bates-Brown is "an upgrade" on that starting point, or you don't.  I don't,  I think that's where others who are stressing about the OL are coming from.  Bates may be as good at RG as he showed at LG.  I didn't see him as a zone run blocking mauler.  Saffold is a much better run blocker but is not a strong pass blocker, and was injured a lot last season. 

 

It's great if the Bills can address the position in FA, but the top FA guards are signing for $14M AAV with $30M guaranteed.  Saffold was a mediocre FA signing, even though I like him as a player more than several knowledgeable folks do, because of his age (33) and his injury history.  It's really not a clear upgrade on Williams, because of the missed time last season and because while he's 100% better run blocker than Williams, he's not as good in pass protection, possibly a downgrade on Boettger and Bates at LG in pass pro. 

 

And if the Bills draft a guard, in the 2nd to 5th round next year, we'll be counting on him for an immediate upgrade instead of giving him a year to learn behind Saffold and gain some playing time with the inevitable injuries.

 

Fundamentally, what this is about for me is not trusting Beane to put his money (and his resources) where his mouth is on OL.  He openly acknowledges he didn't do enough at OL in 2018.  2019 was better but the 2019 and 2020 playoffs showed all our OL flaws and the 2020 season was the start of a flawed run game as well, as we transitioned to a zone run blocking scheme our OL struggled to execute.  2021 was, if anything, worse at the start. 

 

It's just not clear Beane has done enough.

 

 

 

[Dopey]

9 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

As for Shakir taking over Davis spot.....I have read a lot of projecting him as a slot at the NFL level.

 

But the main thing which got Davis onto the field before John Brown was injured and while Sanders was healthy, was that Davis made himself into the best blocker of our WR corps.

 

Can one say anything aout Shakir as a blocker?

Amen to this. I thought our struggles with the screen game and running outside was poor blocking by our wide outs. It wasn't just technique, but lack of size. Sanders, Beasley and Diggs. Thought they gave good effort,but none of them are big receivers and struggled with blocking. Davis has good size and really improved at blocking.

[YoloinOhio]

 

[Biden is Mentally Fit]

10 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Just look around the AFC at the Chiefs and Bengals.
 

Chiefs offensive line got blasted in the SB in 2020. What do they do? Go out and spend tons of money to fix it and protect their star.

 

Bengals offensive line was absolutely awful last season. They go out and spend a boat load on some of the better offensive line FAs available.

 

What do the Bills do? Add new line coach, sign an aging broken down Saffold, and call it a day.😅 

And in the Chiefs case didn’t get back to the Super Bowl😅😂and in the Bengals case easily could have won it last year with their awful line. I think their defense gave up a very long drive at the end of the game though. 😂😅

 

And then there’s Kumerow…😅

Edited May 1, 2022 by JDHillFan

[Dopey]

Justyn Ross is not signed yet? Injury plagued, I know, but it's UDFA. Give him a shot.