Beane: "This team is in transition"

[Goin Breakdown]

26 minutes ago, Beast said:

I responded to the ludicrous statement you made. And now you are pissed because I responded the way I did?

 

Honestly, I don’t even get what the hell you are saying. It makes no sense.

I'm not pissed. You're saying I made some Hot take. I'm saying clearly that if the Bills didn't have Josh then the coach and GM would be gone. What's not to get?  Look I'm just trying to talk Bills not argue. Have a good night. If you want to talk and not project I'm down for that. 
I'm being sincere here....

Do you think Buffalo would be as good of a team the last few years with a lesser QB?  I honestly do not. I think there are a few QBs out there that would keep the Bills respectable though. If we missed the playoffs the last few years I honestly don't think we'd have McD as the coach. There's already been a ton of Hot seat talk with him coaching a contender. 
What do you think?

Edited April 28 by Goin Breakdown

[Dr. Who]

12 minutes ago, H2o said:

The Dolphins offense is still going to be tough if they can stay healthy. The Jets added some pieces to the OL, another quality WR prospect, another battering ram RB, and are getting a healthy Rodgers back. The Patriots are in full blown rebuild mode, but beat us last year with far inferior talent and Mac freakin Jones at QB.

 

This past season it took a 6 game run just to win the division. This year we play the NFC West (SF, Rams, and a should be much improved AZ squad), the AFC South (the upstart Texans, Indy with A. Rich back, a Jax team that always gives us trouble), our 6 division games, KC, Detroit, and Baltimore. This schedule is gonna suck. 

 

At some point you have to realize the way you've been trying to operate doesn't work. At some point you have to be able to adapt. To repeat the same cycle year after year with a generational talent at QB is madness. At some point the owner has to say  it and hit the reset button. I think the next two years are make or break. If we haven't gotten to the SB by the end of the 2025 season, when Josh is on the verge of 30, I think/hope Pegula will clean house. The goal is not just to be "Playoff caliber" every year, it's to win a Lombardi. 

I really don't trust Pegula to make that decision. I understand the frustration.

[BuffaloBillsGospel2014]

For me I felt both Jordan Poyer/Micah Hyde both looked and played old, injuries and age have caught up to them so they'll be replaced by Edwards/Rapp/Bishop (2 out of the 3), I feel like we lose experience but gain athletic ability plus Edwards/Rapp just came from SB winning teams. Most on here were clamoring that we need a much better #2 WR than Gabe Davis who I think they replaced him with Keon Coleman ( with the possibility of being the #1 WR).  Where we are in dire need is at WR 1 where we just lost a top 10 WR in the NFL so it's going to be felt no matter what unless we trade for a top notch WR 1 which Beane said was not happening but he says alot of things.

I feel like we added to the DL and pass rush with the additions today, we added OL depth and possible starter either at G or C in Granger. Again I know I'm seeming like the Bills did everything wonderfully but I believe the RB room has even more competition with the Davis addition, the dude just seeks out people to hit. I'm not saying everything is A ok over here but i don't think the sky is falling nearly as bad as some but again I get it if you thing it is so I can't hate on you either.

[thenorthremembers]

3 hours ago, HappyDays said:

This quote from Beane defines the entire draft strategy:

 

He is giving it to us straight. The Bills are in a rebuild year. So he went for all team captains. Guys that interviewed well. Guys that he believes set a new foundation of leadership in the building. He hunted for short term needs that fit the singular character profile he and McDermott feel comfortable with, at the expense of talent at premium positions. And he is telling the fanbase to temper our expectations without coming right out and saying it.

 

I'm not gonna grade a draft until we see how all the players turn out, but the overall philosophy shown this weekend is deflating and uninspiring.

There is a massive difference between transition and rebuild.   The Bills are transitioning to a younger roster.  They aren't tearing it down and rebuilding it from the ground up.  

[babulator]

Without JA17, this offense could not even compete in the SEC. It's criminal how little they have supported JA.

[khlax3]

I’m just not seeing how everyone thinks this team is way worse than last year. In my eyes it has the potential to be better.

 

QB- same but better depth

 

RB- I would argue better. Murray ran out of gas last year. You add a rookie with plenty of production and have johnson looked good when he got involved at end of last season.

 

TE- Same to better. Kincaid year 2 and Knox healthy.

 

OL- Likely slightly worse. I don’t expect too much of a drop off. Morse is a loss but Torrance will be year 2 and brown coming off his best season.  Depth should be much better.

 

WR- Worse, there is no debating losing diggs doesn’t make us worse. Worse. We don’t have that true number 1 proven guy but shakir keeps improving and Coleman, Samuel, Hollins is way way better than Davis, Sherfield and harty.

 

DL- Better. Yes we lost Floyd but you have Von a year removed from injury. Tohill is an upgrade to Shaq and we have a rookie coming in who had 16 sacks last year. I think it’s safe to assume he will be an upgrade over Jonathan who did nothing. At DT jones is back after missing most of last year. The 2 DT free agent signing and the rookie should be a big improvement over settle, phillips, and ford who were not good last year.

 

LB- Better. Milano is back, Bernard year 2. Young, athletic depth. 
 

CB- I am going with same here. White has been MIA for over 2 years. We get Benford and Johnson back and we now have Douglass for a full year. Yea we lost Dane Jackson but I think getting Douglass for the offseason cancels that out. Will be nice to see Elam get more playtime he showed playmaking flashes when he was out there.

 

S- slightly worse. Losing poyer and Hyde is tough to replace. They were aging so their impact last season wasn’t what is once was but it’s still going to hurt. I really like Bishop but I just don’t think anyone can say we would be the same or better without those guys this year 
 

 

[gonzo1105]

2 minutes ago, babulator said:

Without JA17, this offense could not even compete in the SEC. It's criminal how little they have supported JA.

Newsflash: No Offense or HC/GM would survive without a franchise QB. 

[HappyDays]

2 hours ago, ColoradoBills said:

 

First off having the balls to let all the old guard go that he could, instead of trying to patch things up and put the bill on the credit card.

 

Beane has shown he can execute a tear down. He's done it twice now. Can he execute a rebuild? That remains to be seen. The first attempt failed. Now we're giving him chance #2 and the same head coach is along for the ride. And the first draft of his second rebuild was filled with poor strategic picks IMO.

[Success]

Some fans are reading too much into the wording here.

 

We lost a bunch of guys.  Of course we're in transition.  If all we lost was the iconic duo of Poyer/Hyde, we'd be transitioning.  But we lost quite a few other guys who overall contributed to who this team WAS.

 

This by no means translates into "rebuilding," or not contending.  It's a wait & see, but this team could actually be better than the banged-up team that took the eventual SB champs to the wire in the divisional.

 

[babulator]

3 minutes ago, gonzo1105 said:

Newsflash: No Offense or HC/GM would survive without a franchise QB. 

The 49ers might disagree.

[GoBills808]

1 minute ago, Success said:

Some fans are reading too much into the wording here.

 

We lost a bunch of guys.  Of course we're in transition.  If all we lost was the iconic duo of Poyer/Hyde, we'd be transitioning.  But we lost quite a few other guys who overall contributed to who this team WAS.

 

This by no means translates into "rebuilding," or not contending.  It's a wait & see, but this team could actually be better than the banged-up team that took the eventual SB champs to the wire in the divisional.

 

I agree w the overall point that the team could surprise (personally not seeing a deep postseason run but it could happen) but the whole 'took KC to the wire last season' narrative is a red herring imo...an objective watch of that game would see a Bills team dominated and fortunate to be within a score at the end

[gonzo1105]

1 minute ago, babulator said:

The 49ers might disagree.

No I don’t think they would considering Brock Purdy blew out his elbow in the NFC title game and they proceeded to get smacked by the Eagles  with Josh Johnson playing QB 

Edited April 28 by gonzo1105

[Success]

4 minutes ago, GoBills808 said:

I agree w the overall point that the team could surprise (personally not seeing a deep postseason run but it could happen) but the whole 'took KC to the wire last season' narrative is a red herring imo...an objective watch of that game would see a Bills team dominated and fortunate to be within a score at the end

 

I kind of know what you're saying here - but the results are the results.  Our biggest problem in that game was defense - we simply couldn't stop KC.  And that was kind of expected, with so many of our good & great players on D out, or playing hurt.  We didn't have our starting LB's, were missing 2 starting CB's, and 1 CB was playing pretty hurt.

 

And we could have stolen that game if our best WR could have hung onto a pass that - if caught - would have gone down as one of the most memorable in playoff history.

 

We beat KC in the regular.  We were as close as any team to their level in '23.

 

[Einstein's Dog]

1 hour ago, JohnNord said:

I don’t see things are bleak as you do.  They did try to find players that were leaders but I don’t think it came at the expense of talent.  One thing is clear though - they did not want to jeopardize next year’s draft capital in any way. 
 

Overall I think this years draft was solid, though I’m a bit confused by how they drafted at WR.  It seemed clear that they needed to make a big move to offset the departure of Diggs.  Or to draft 2 WR’s at least come away with 2 WR’s.  Instead they chose to draft 1.  

 

The “team in transition” quote is certainly interesting.  It does make it seem like they are bracing for a step back next season. 

The quote is taken out of context, the team is transitioning because it lost a lot of the veterans and new people are going to need to step up.  It seems by all accounts the Bills have drafted a lot of quality high character players.  And even the depth pieces are quality.

 

I took the drafting of just one WR as a good sign.  It signals to me they are keeping room for a veteran addition.  No rookie could be reasonably expected to replace Diggs.  Getting another rookie like Franklin in the 3rd would have signaled to me a rebuild.   

 

The Bills still have a spot for the veteran.  They have 2025 draft capital to get one.  They have Tre money coming in along with another possible Josh restructure for 2024 funds along with no more Diggs as a way to justify future year payments.  

 

 

[GoBills808]

Just now, Success said:

 

I kind of know what you're saying here - but the results are the results.  Our biggest problem in that game was defense - we simply couldn't stop KC.  And that was kind of expected, with so many of our good & great players on D out, or playing hurt.  We didn't have our starting LB's, were missing 2 starting CB's, and 1 CB was playing pretty hurt.

 

And we could have stolen that game if our best WR could have hung onto a pass that - if caught - would have gone down as one of the most memorable in playoff history.

 

We beat KC in the regular.  We were as close as any team to their level in '23.

 

Agree that we play them about as well as anyone except Bengals...it's a fair point

 

Unfortunately the margins are where we needed to improve and at this point in the offseason I think they have widened unfortunately 

[HappyDays]

2 hours ago, Virgil said:

You can be in a transition year and still get a future star at receiver.  Let’s transition on defense and support Josh.  Let the offense carry us for once.  
 

It’s doesn’t have to be fully either or 

 

It turns out Beane hasn't learned anything from his mistakes. After failing to sign Hopkins and watching the Davis/Sherfield experiment fail, I really thought he would learn. Instead he admitted publicly that at certain spots in the draft he chose to pick other "needs" instead of good WRs still on the board. And apparently to him those needs were safety, backup DT, and backup RB. It's unbelievable. These guys are shortening and hamstringing Allen's career.

[FireChans]

Just now, HappyDays said:

 

It turns out Beane hasn't learned anything from his mistakes. After failing to sign Hopkins and watching the Davis/Sherfield experiment fail, I really thought he would learn. Instead he admitted publicly that at certain spots in the draft he chose to pick other "needs" instead of good WRs still on the board. And apparently to him those needs were safety, backup DT, and backup RB. It's unbelievable. These guys are shortening and hamstringing Allen's career.

Can I get a “you were right FC, these boys don’t learn?”

[Buffalo Boy]

3 hours ago, HappyDays said:

The Bills are in a rebuild year.

Huh

You don’t say.

   Of course it is, it was when they started culling older guys and creating cap space for NEXT year. If I’d only known😒
   But, you know, let’s not use the dreaded “ Rebuild” word!!! It’s too ScArY😱😱😱🫣😑 Let’s call it a “ retool” or argue that as long as we have Josh it can NEVER be a rebuild. 
    Let’s also not suggest the first SB window closed and McClappy didn’t piss away an all time QB playoff performance . Let’s stick to our “ We can still win the SB” mantra cuz it makes us feel good.
    I’m not straight out calling a bunch of you rubes but🤷‍♂️ 

    Reality doesn’t require your participation but some of the serious Pie in the Sky bs some on here have been peddling does.

    The next window MAYBE opens next season but probably 2026 if things go well.

 

   

   

[Boatdrinks]

2 hours ago, Dr. Who said:

I don't think you're on an island. The WR room with Diggs added looks a lot better. One can only surmise how toxic things must have become that Beane felt compelled to move him and take a huge cap hit.

Cap hit was this year or next , when Diggs would have been going on 32. Probably a cut at that time with no draft pick compensation. Why kick the can down the road again ? Loved Diggs when he was here, but clearly there were issues. I found Greg Cosell’s commentary on the situation interesting. He said in his opinion film breakdown showed that Diggs was no longer a #1 WR in the NFL and hadn’t been for awhile. Cosell isn’t one prone to hot takes and the like- he just evaluates the film. Just an interesting perspective on the player without the emotional attachment that we get as fans. 

[Logic]

Respectfully, a transition/retool/rebuild year seems like the PERFECT time to add a few rookie WRs. It's historically a position that takes a year or two to get up to speed. So why not draft more than ONE wide receiver when you have a screaming need at the position, 11 draft picks, and a deep WR draft class? Let them get their feet wet in this "transition year" and from 2025 onward, we're off and running.

I don't see why having a transition year and meaningfully addressing your biggest roster hole with more than one player should have to be mutually exclusive.