Who will be this year's Terrell Bernard??

[kenny3000]

Javon Solomon. 

[nosejob]

9 hours ago, BullBuchanan said:

AJ Epenesa is my pick. I was dead certain he'd get a 4 year deal somewhere averaging 12-13M a year based on the flashes he showed with limited opportunities. Still just 25 coming off back to back 6.5 sack seasons, he'll have a much bigger role this year if the Bills don't make a splash acquisition. He was a far better player than Von Miller last season, and hopefully the Bills cut ties with him or keep him limited to a reserve role unless he's truly back.

Epenesa has his limitations, but he's got a very high motor and nose for the ball that guys like Milano and Bernard have. He'll never be an elite pass rusher, but he could be one of those key pieces to a championship defense. I think he offers something far more special than what I've seen out of Rousseau so far.

I think he's gonna keep getting better. He looks really fast to me.

[HappyDays]

Not sure if this exactly counts because he's a rookie but I'll go with Javon Solomon as a sleeper that could end up with a lot more production than anyone expects. Like Bernard his path to seeing a lot of playing time is pretty easy to envision. His skill set meshes well with Rousseau on the other side. I could see him kind of coming out of nowhere and ending up with like 8 sacks on the season.

[Dan Darragh]

I'm more worried about who will be this season's Aaron Maybin.

[SCBills]

6 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

Not sure if this exactly counts because he's a rookie but I'll go with Javon Solomon as a sleeper that could end up with a lot more production than anyone expects. Like Bernard his path to seeing a lot of playing time is pretty easy to envision. His skill set meshes well with Rousseau on the other side. I could see him kind of coming out of nowhere and ending up with like 8 sacks on the season.

The variance in how good our DE room can be is wild. 
 

-Rousseau contract year

 

-Epenesa continued improvement?

 

-What is Von Miller?

 

-Duwane Smoot injury recovery?

 

-Can Solomon’s rush carry to the NFL?

 

Its realistic to think all of these can work out favorably for us, but hope isn’t a strategy and the flip side of the coin is we only have two starter level Defensive Ends for certain. 

[Green Lightning]

1 hour ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

Rousseau hasn't really broken out as a pass rusher yet but he is an underrated player, in general.   The Bills badly need a guy opposite him to just run wild from the blindside and allow Rousseau to do what he does best........which is level up, locate the QB stepping up in the pocket and bring him down.   His GPS for that is elite and that's what made him such a beast in college despite very little experience as a DL.    Give him a late 2010's high pressure rate, low sack rate guy like Jerry Hughes flying around the edge and GR is a 10-15 sack guy.   Bills haven't been able to do that except for that stretch with Von in 2022.   Rousseau is so effective against the run on the strong side that he is a rare case where you might build the edge positions around him even though he needs to be paired with a bendy, fast get-off guy to really flourish.   

Agree. He's our new Phil Hansen. A great Bill who set the edge, stopped the run and still finished some sacks when Bruce flushed the pocket.

[BADOLBILZ]

10 minutes ago, Green Lightning said:

Agree. He's our new Phil Hansen. A great Bill who set the edge, stopped the run and still finished some sacks when Bruce flushed the pocket.

 

 

He needs to get on a cutting-edge juice program like Hansen was on with Victor Conte back in the BALCO days.   

[skibum]

Shakir doesn't count, because he contributed a fair amount last year. Same thing with Torrence. It has to be someone with a very limited resume.

 

I'm going with Kingsley Jonathan on D and the legendary KJ Hamler on O. 

[NewEra]

A guy that had shown nothing turned very good starter-  I don’t think we really have that.  Edwards, Edwards, Rapp, Benford have all started several games prior to this season.  I don’t consider them to be the same as Bernard.  Benford had his coming out party last season, just like Bernard did.

 

Closest I can see on the roster would be Dewayne Carter.  Also a 3rd rd pick, may not start but could get 50ish% snap counts and I think he’ll be a plus player.  Not great, but I think he’ll emerge as a core player over the next 4 years, starting in 2024.  
 

Elam would be up next, but I have lot more confidence in him becoming a good starter at this point then I had in Bernard last season.  
 

shorter, shavers, hamler, morris could be considered but I don’t see any of them becoming nearly as good as Bernard.  I’d give Morris the best chance once Knox inevitably gets injured.  

[RyanC883]

3 hours ago, Bleeding Bills Blue said:

I mean the "bernard" profile was - Rookie who didn't do much of anything and then won a competition for the position in year two.  

 

The only player i can see fitting that profile with a spot available to compete for would be Justin Shorter.  Other option would be williams, but i don't know how much we'll see him if Milano is healthy.  

 

Williams is an interesting one, esp. if Milano is not ready when the season starts.  Shorter coming onto the scene would be amazing.  All this talent, and not the production in College or his 1st year here, would be nice to see him put it together.  

59 minutes ago, Dan Darragh said:

I'm more worried about who will be this season's Aaron Maybin.

 

there is the Bills PTSD right there! 

[ganesh]

10 hours ago, BullBuchanan said:

AJ Epenesa is my pick. I was dead certain he'd get a 4 year deal somewhere averaging 12-13M a year based on the flashes he showed with limited opportunities. Still just 25 coming off back to back 6.5 sack seasons, he'll have a much bigger role this year if the Bills don't make a splash acquisition. He was a far better player than Von Miller last season, and hopefully the Bills cut ties with him or keep him limited to a reserve role unless he's truly back.

Epenesa has his limitations, but he's got a very high motor and nose for the ball that guys like Milano and Bernard have. He'll never be an elite pass rusher, but he could be one of those key pieces to a championship defense. I think he offers something far more special than what I've seen out of Rousseau so far.

They don't need to be elite...they just need to know the moments of the game where they can make a change.  That is what wins Super Bowls.  Chris Jones deflecting Josh Allen's for sure TD pass to the end zone. 

[DCofNC]

9 hours ago, Billzgobowlin said:

Cole Bishop.  This is McDermott's pet project especially since he was a DB himself.

I don’t know if he’s necessarily going to surprise anyone the way Bernard did, but I like this choice.  I feel like they got a great player, later than he should have gone.   

[DCofNC]

The guy I really WANT to fill the role is Shorter.  He’s kinda the same thing as Bernard, seen as a fringe roster type, who could step up big.  If the light bulb goes on and it all comes together for him, he could be a HUGE boost to this team.  He’s everything we need, size, speed, cost, etc.  if he could take the starting job, even as the #2, and I mean, Really deserve the job, it would be amazing for this team.

 

I actually think the guy you will see become really next level this year is going to be Kincaid. 

[MasterStrategist]

Defense: Groot.  He'll benefit from a healthy Von, more consistent AJE, and Solomon bringing a very good pressure rate.  12 sacks for Groot.

 

Offense: Rookie Ray Davis.  Yes Cook will still be the primary guy, but Davis has great vision/very quick feet and adds a dimension to the running game and 3rd down role.  I think he'll get 700 total yards of offense, 7 total TDs

[msw2112]

1 hour ago, skibum said:

Shakir doesn't count, because he contributed a fair amount last year. Same thing with Torrence. It has to be someone with a very limited resume.

 

I'm going with Kingsley Jonathan on D and the legendary KJ Hamler on O. 

 

I agree with the bolded sentence.  That's how I was interpreting the question.  Based on that, I think the 3 guys most likely to fit the bill are Elam, Shorter, and Dorian Williams.  There are all drafted guys who have not played a whole lot and could be perceived as trending towards bust status based on their lack of production, but given the opportunity to play a lot, could surprise us all and look very good.  These guys are all more athletic than Bernard, but it remains to be seen if they have football IQ to apply their talent on the field.  So far Elam has not consistently done that (although he has made an occasional big play), but still could, and the other 2 guys have had very limited opportunities to show what they can do.

 

I'm not going out on a limb to say that all 3 of these guys will have big seasons like Bernard did last year, but if any players on the roster were to "break-out" in similar fashion to Bernard, these would be the ones.  I'm excluding rookies, veterans who have already produced, and guys coming from other teams.

Edited May 13 by msw2112

[Saint Doug]

The only thing I really want is for this year’s Terrell Benard to be last year’s Terrell Benard or better. That is, a sophomore slump for Terrell Benard will be costly. 

[msw2112]

I think that if Bernard can stay healthy, he'll be fine.  I believe last season was his "sophomore" season already.

[BuffaloBillsGospel2014]

2 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

I swear I read the framework of this post in late August of 2017 when the Bills acquired 6'3" Jordan Matthews to pair with 6'4" free agent signee Andre Holmes.    Except, of course, those guys actually had experienced *some* success at the NFL level.    Matthews had averaged almost 900 yards per season to that point of his young but soon-to-be-over career.  Then they tripled down with Biscuits Benjamin at mid-season to make sure they were REALLY big, slow and awkward/clumsy.    

  

 

Matthews and benjamin didn't work out but Josh was also raw back then, it may not work out just like it didn't then but I don't fault them at all for trying this. Big guys who can win the 50/50 balls, while the smaller guys like Samuel/Shakir can work the middle. Also Holmes was never a starter in either of the seasons he was here and Matthews was only here for the 2017 season before Allen came along and to me was more of a Chase Claypool (hope he can turn it around) signing that they took a shot on with really no risk.

Edited May 13 by BuffaloBillsGospel2014

[uticaclub]

3 hours ago, boyst said:

he was as reliable as any other kicker in the league.

He’s never ranked higher than 15th in FG%. His ceiling is average.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

1 hour ago, NewEra said:

A guy that had shown nothing turned very good starter-  I don’t think we really have that.  Edwards, Edwards, Rapp, Benford have all started several games prior to this season.  I don’t consider them to be the same as Bernard.  Benford had his coming out party last season, just like Bernard did.

 

Closest I can see on the roster would be Dewayne Carter.  Also a 3rd rd pick, may not start but could get 50ish% snap counts and I think he’ll be a plus player.  Not great, but I think he’ll emerge as a core player over the next 4 years, starting in 2024.  
 

Elam would be up next, but I have lot more confidence in him becoming a good starter at this point then I had in Bernard last season.  
 

shorter, shavers, hamler, morris could be considered but I don’t see any of them becoming nearly as good as Bernard.  I’d give Morris the best chance once Knox inevitably gets injured.  

 

Shorter fits the uhh... role?  Williams was drafted - Coleman was drafted.  Everyone was expecting the team to sign someone to fill the gap - they signed kirksey to the practice squad and everyone assumed he'd be starting once he picked up the playbook.  Then Bernard came out and looked the part and we all forgot he was ever in competition with a Klein, a rookie, and Dodson.  

 

Longer odds for a 5th round pick though for sure.