Elam now CB4 and playing kickoff coverage in the preseason

[Success]

If nothing else - we have fantastic depth at the CB position.  Probably our deepest unit..

 

[Thurman#1]

19 hours ago, Process said:

What's your play here?

 

Hang onto him and hope he develops?

 

Trade him while he still has some value? If he's not playing, his value will only go down the further we get from when he was drafted. 

 

I would say trade him, but we don't have a lot of depth. Who is CB4 then, Austin? If a bad team offered a 3rd, I'd probably take it. 

 

I didn't follow him in college, but him not being a fit for our defense is not a surprise, right? We knew that already going into the draft? That's the frustrating part. 

 

 

 

It's the beginning of his SECOND year. Not his third, his second. Not the end. The beginning.

 

The play almost certainly is to develop him. 

 

It would be better if he'd developed quickly. But he is a bit slow. 

 

And no we didn't know for sure in the draft how long he'd take. But we did draft a guy with virtually no experience in our system, so yeah, it was always more likely he'd take more time. 

 

Doesn't mean he won't become terrific. He might. Or might not. 

 

But he might.

[Toyo321]

17 hours ago, streetkings01 said:

Not sure why he was drafted by us? He’s a man corner and we run a zone scheme. 

Thank is why I criticize Beane, let's get a square peg and try and plug it in a round hole!

His drafting practices and scouts are terrible and miss the mark most of the time in every draft.

No draft pick is 100% guaranteed they are going to be a home run pick.  But.....

We seldom get any drafted players that turn into NFL all pro's with their picks.  and we have had 7 years of their drafting history as a sample size.

We only got Tre, Josh and Edmunds, Milano, & Bass,  IMO that are All Pro's.  And now Edmunds is gone.

Dawkins, Knox, Oliver and multiple and DL & DB players are good but they are not elite.

Everyone else they have drafted that we still have on this team is serviceable for us as a team.

We have been both lucky and unlucky with some of these other picks being able to play for this team and actually produce positive

results on the field. 

 

But their drafting  acumen has been questionable at best. 

 

7 Years and counting and no AFCCG wins resulting in our first SB appearance since 1993,  speaks to Beane & McD's drafting ability & their failure to date getting us to that next level.

 

Edited August 27, 2023 by Toyo321

[Thurman#1]

12 hours ago, DCofNC said:

It is true.  If you have a team that’s supposedly that good, anywhere you add a better player, makes the team better.  Passing on Creed Humphrey because you “need” pass rush, makes the team weaker. Drafting a project DB because you need a CB2, when you also have holes all over the OL etc, makes the team weaker.   They took guys looking at the future, just the opposite of what you are trying to say, they had to develop all these players at positions of need, instead of letting the draft come to them. 
 

There isn’t going to be an “aggressive rebuild”, there’s no money for it.  The consistent whiffs on finding any difference makers is killing this team.  Yes, they are ok, but they can’t get over the hump because Beane has drafted exactly zero difference makers outside of Allen. 

 

 

You know, if this post were written about a team that had gone 5-12 or maybe 6-11 last year it would make sense.

 

But it was not, and so it does not make sense. Not at all.

 

You know what's "killing this team"? Nothing.

 

"They are OK," you say? That's absolute fruit cake nuts. They're excellent. Haven't gotten over the hump yet, but they have a chance every year and that absolutely includes this year. They are far far better than "OK".

 

This team is not dying. They're terrific, one of the best in the league. This team has not consistently whiffed in the draft, it simply has not. They've drafted well. Not spectacularly, but well. Made some mistakes. Gotten some great values. All across the 

 

When you look at the major difference makers in the draft, most of them come among the blue chippers, first ten to fifteen guys or so. We aren't there any more. 

 

Get used to it!!!

 

It's a good thing.

[hondo in seattle]

21 minutes ago, Success said:

If nothing else - we have fantastic depth at the CB position.  Probably our deepest unit..

 

 

Don't care...  It used to be that 3 of our 4/5 starting DBs were studs:  Hyde, Poyer, and White.  The other CB and nickelback were okay.

 

Maybe it's the same this year.  But Hyde and Poyer have both had injuries and are getting up there in years.  White hasn't seemed right since his ACL, though maybe he just needed more time to mend.  In any case, I was hoping Elam would become a star to compensate for whatever degradation we experienced in the older veteran stars.  

 

My fingers are crossed that Hyde, Poyer, and White all return to peak form.  If so, our secondary will be great.  And I'm looking forward to seeing how Rapp will contribute.  It's nice, of course, to have good backups but I'd rather have great starters.  

[balln]

14 minutes ago, Toyo321 said:

 

 

7 Years and counting and no AFCCG or SB appearances,  speaks to Beane & McD's drafting ability & their failure to date of getting us to that next level.

 

with a franchise qb / mvp type of player

 

its personal and coaching why theyve been to 1 and only 1 AFCCG in which they got dog walked

[BananaB]

McD has made poor decisions based off practice instead of Sundays numerous times. At the end of last year Elam might have been our best DB so trading him makes no sense.

Edited August 27, 2023 by BananaB

[Utah John]

To me, the happy news is that Benford as developed into such a good player, not that Elam hasn't.  Elam is not a complete bust, just a guy who's not developing as much as you'd expect from a 1st round pick.  He'd probably be playing if Benford hadn't refused to go quietly into the night.

[Royale with Cheese]

I’m wondering if he’s going to be inactive a lot.  Siran Neal has position flexibility and plays Special Teams….he might be our 4th corner.

[3rdand12]

20 hours ago, Augie said:

 

Tre getting back to being Tre is right behind MLB on my list of defensive concerns. I really haven’t heard anything about his recovery this season. Maybe I missed it, but that seems kind of odd. 

Its been mostly about the Receivers , seems to me.

His name come up, but just as to who was covering

" He had perfect coverage" , but the catch was made etc LOL
As to his recovery ? I imagine they wont give anything away. So I accept he is good to go 👍

18 hours ago, BillsShredder83 said:

How do we know McD won't run more man? They've indicated they plan to be more aggressive, assuming that includes blitzing.

 

Outside of that, along our playoff run we'll need a man guy for Chase/Tyreek/Kelce.

 

You'd rather have a 4th rder than a guy that can help cover the biggest thorns in our side? 

 

So unbelievably short sighted

Bills absolutely need to run more press coverage and with quick hit blitz.

 Stunts with the Zone

[newcam2012]

8 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

 

It's the beginning of his SECOND year. Not his third, his second. Not the end. The beginning.

 

The play almost certainly is to develop him. 

 

It would be better if he'd developed quickly. But he is a bit slow. 

 

And no we didn't know for sure in the draft how long he'd take. But we did draft a guy with virtually no experience in our system, so yeah, it was always more likely he'd take more time. 

 

Doesn't mean he won't become terrific. He might. Or might not. 

 

But he might.

Is that really the mindset a team has when they draft a player in the first round at pick number 23? To boot, the Bills moved up to get him. You want immediate impact players and he's been anything but that. 

 

Yes, he's young and has time to improve. No one knows how good or bad he will be. 

 

What's clear is he's been a huge disappointment. Can't really dispute that. 

 

Benford was a great pick and that mitigates the Elam situation. 

Edited August 28, 2023 by newcam2012

[3rdand12]

Bills Coaching mindset is weird

[CountDorkula]

22 hours ago, Success said:

If nothing else - we have fantastic depth at the CB position.  Probably our deepest unit..

 

I wouldn’t say having players who aren’t very good at their job is “fantastic depth” 

[BuffaloRebound]

22 hours ago, BananaB said:

McD has made poor decisions based off practice instead of Sundays numerous times. At the end of last year Elam might have been our best DB so trading him makes no sense.

I don’t necessarily blame him for that.  Focusing on process and demanding professionalism has served him and the organization well.  But you gotta be able to coach the talented guys up too and to me that’s what’s holding us back from taking next step.  

[Joe Ferguson forever]

On 8/26/2023 at 4:03 PM, Virgil said:

I was going to wait until the game was over to make this exact post. 
 

I really think the Bills should take trade offers for him.  It’s not that he isn’t good. He just doesn’t fit our system.  
 

A team like the Ravens would love to have him and I’m sure there are other DB needy teams. 
 

Ideally, there’s a team out there with good OT or MLB depth that needs a DB, but this isn’t Madden. 
 

For me, if you can get a 2nd rounder, go for it 

Do you think some team would offer a 2nd.  I'm thinking a 4th....

13 hours ago, 3rdand12 said:

Bills Coaching mindset is weird

We've been SB contenders for 3-4 years.  Weird is good.

[ndirish1978]

Yeah, let's buy high and sell low, that's a winning recipe. Elam is not a bad player and will continue to develop, you don't trade him at his lowest value. 

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

On 8/27/2023 at 12:17 PM, balln said:

with a franchise qb / mvp type of player

 

its personal and coaching why theyve been to 1 and only 1 AFCCG in which they got dog walked

 

In that 7 years the AFC was represented by KC 3x and NE 3x.  The Bengals did make it 2 years ago - but i don't think their roster in 2021-2022 was the reason, just peaked at the right time on defense, got takeaways and took care of the ball.  

 

The Chiefs have one of the best offensive minds in football history, and one of the best QBs in football history.  Their GM and scouting is also top notch.  It's going to be tough to get in.  Before that you had Belichick and Brady finishing up their run as the greatest dynasty in NFL history.  It's a tough ask to have multiple super bowl appearances in this window.  Need some bounces, some help etc. 

 

Example: Mike Tomlin is 1-1 in the super bowl, he never beat Brady or Manning on his way to a super bowl.  It's going to be tough to beat KC and Cincy in the same playoffs, maybe one or both gets bounced.   

[HeHateMe]

I didn't think Elam was bad last year?  IDK I felt he held his own when he was on the field..

 

No idea what's gone on this offseason with him though.

[MasterStrategist]

23 hours ago, Royale with Cheese said:

I’m wondering if he’s going to be inactive a lot.  Siran Neal has position flexibility and plays Special Teams….he might be our 4th corner.

Agree, which to me is a potential issue.

 

Ingram would be a "fine" #4 outside corner, who can conveniently slide into the slot as well.

 

I'd much rather move Dane, who I think is a depth level player/fringe starter.  Benford likely has him beat out, and Elam has the most upside.

 

Not ready to move on from Elam, but I'd be fine with a Dane trade that nets us a 5th or 6th (which we use to secure a backup RT).

 

If I'm Beane, I'm trading pieces now that we have extreme depth/not much fall off at - who teams likely target on waivers.  DE, IOL, Secondary are 3 spots where I see one of our cuts likely getting scooped up.  Either IOL or secondary is where I expect Beane to keep an "extra" roster spot vs past years.  Either Anderson or Cam.

 

2 trades that net us picks in the 5th-7th range, that we basically flip for a backup RT and backup QB...thats most ideal to me right now; even if we can get 1 improved that'd help

[Success]

11 hours ago, CountDorkula said:

I wouldn’t say having players who aren’t very good at their job is “fantastic depth” 

 

Who isn't good at their job?