If you could go back in time to March of 2024, would you sign Derrick Henry?

[Freddie's Dead]

In hindsight, yes, because Samuel makes Pat "breasts on a bull" DiMarco look productive.  Henry would have given the Bills a whole new dimension. 

[GolfandBills]

23 minutes ago, MJS said:

I'd go back in time and draft Tom Brady in the 5th round. I'd also take Maxx Crosby in the 3rd round. Hey, if we can go back in time and get whoever we want, why not go all in?

Will it fit in our cap?

[Nihilarian]

15 minutes ago, MJS said:

I'd go back in time and draft Tom Brady in the 5th round. I'd also take Maxx Crosby in the 3rd round. Hey, if we can go back in time and get whoever we want, why not go all in?

If we could do that... I'd nix the trade-up for Sammy Watkins (Mr Glass) and take any one of the many other better players. Like WR Mike Evans, Khalil Mack, and Aaron Donald. That 2014 NFL draft had fifteen first-rounders that made all pro or Pro Bowl and another twelve that came after the first round that Buffalo missed on.

 

That year's draft still irks me! 

[Warriorspikes51]

man, I pounded the table for this move and was laughed at and told he's washed and not worth $6 million a year
 

WELL????? 

[Sweats]

I was probably the loudest advocate to bring the King to Buffalo.........and our FO didn't listen.

 

 

 

 

 

sigh

[Livinginthepast]

59 minutes ago, ChevyVanMiller said:

Yes, I would have made that deal. Not only would Henry have helped the Bills offense, but keeping him off of Baltimore would have had an even greater impact on the AFC landscape.

This is the most important part for me! Unless he was sure to sign in the NFC, Do not let Baltimore get him. I also think he would have made a great 1-2 punch with Cook.

[NewEra]

i wanted Henry in a bad way only because that would’ve given us the two most unstoppable ball carriers in the league.  I also didn’t think there was any chance that we would sign him. 

 

In hindsight, the Samuel deal is an abomination, but at the time, I loved it. Would I trade Samuel for Henry?  Absolutely.  

[hondo in seattle]

1 hour ago, Lost said:

At that point in time, RB was probably the one position we really didn't have a need but damn,  the Ravens are paying him the same amount we signed Curtis Samuel for and Henry is having an exponentially greater effect on the Ravens passing game than Samuel is ours.   Cook has been the most consistent piece of our offense this year but he doesn't fundamentally change the way defenses play against us.   Having someone with the physical stature of Henry is forcing teams to bring in an extra LB because he is just trucking over smaller safeties and DBs.   This might rank in the top 5 missed opportunities in the Beane era, right up there with drafting Cody Ford over DK Metcalf.   

 

King Henry is exactly the kind of back I wanted.  And when you compare his contract to Curtis Samuel's, I'm completely sold.

 

Josh can make any throw.  But too often, defenses sell out to stop Allen.  I don't think they entirely disrespect our run game but they know if they slow Allen, they have a good chance of winning and so that's how they scheme against us.    

 

The best antidote is a power back in the mold of Derrick Henry.

 

At his age, I admit I probably didn't expect him to be as good as he's been this year.  And I never thought of the opportunity cost in this light: him or Curtis Samuel.  And when Beane was making these decisions, WR seemed like a bigger need.  But with the advantage of hindsight: yes, sir.  I'd love Henry on this offense.  

[Big Turk]

if only to keep away from the Ravens.

[The Jokeman]

1 hour ago, SCBills said:

The Curtis Samuel signing truly looks horrific and it's only magnified by the Ravens signing of Henry for the same money. 

 

I'm willing to let it play out, because A) Henry could fade as the season goes on and B) Samuel could get healthy and do some damage as WR4/5

 

But, ugh... as of right now, Baltimore signing Henry and Buffalo signing Samuel looks to be the difference between the two teams.  He has transformed their Offense and is opening up their passing game by just his presence out there.. nevermind the fact he has been really good early in the season. 

and yet both teams are 5-2 with the Ravens scoring 19 more points than the Bills, so I guess Henry is worth 2.7 more points than Samuel. 

[Logic]

Bills running game has mostly been good. 

I like all three of our running backs.

If we're gonna go back and play the "what we could've used Curtis Samuel's money for instead" game, I'd rather have seen us sign a quality safety.

[corta765]

No not in the least. The move they made for Cooper truthfully is what they should have done in the offseason, they just benefited now from a cheaper price tag. The issue with the offense was always what you saw in the BAL/HOU game being what happens when the team has to go off script and/or you don't have Shakir who at the time was their best weapon to beat coverage. Henry is a superb player and Samuel certainly is giving buyers remorse at this point as I do not think anyone saw it going this bad. But I felt the way now as I did the moment Diggs especially left which was you need a true WR1 who can move the rest of the WR Corp down to their proper position. Shakir is your stud at Slot, Coleman can move around but is a rookie so he needs to be a WR3/4 to see his best play given his age and need to grow, Mack will be at his best when he is a WR4 in a very defined role. The entire WR corp was off because of the roles they were in with how the roster was. Samuel even at his best is WR2 not a WR1 so the issue was always present, but his regression and then the issues when your off gameplan or hurt just magnified greater. This no longer is an issue as Cooper is legit even if he is 80% the guy he was 4 years ago, the load is lightened across the board. The greatest benefactor now is Coleman who you will see more games like Sunday with less pressure and coverage on him. I really like that Shakir/Kincaid/Coleman now can keep growing with less pressure which will only help them more as the season progresses. I have said many times the best version of this team and offense specifically will come out the last 6-7 games, Colemans addition will help this in spades.

 

If there is a position now I would add where you could take Samuel cap and make it go away it is DE/DL or SAF. DE/DL you can never ever have enough and the proof to beat great QBs is forever shown with 3-4 d line man rushing that do not require a blitz but destroy the QB aka 07 Giants blueprint. I like our DT/DE group, but I would add 30 more elite pass rushers if I could, you never have enough. SAF is more a luxury stability thing at this point as they are fine, but a true difference maker would be really nice.

[GoBills808]

would not have been as effective running behind our line

 

Henry needs a clean first step to get north south effectively...he isn't your traditional power back

 

ravens oline is doing a nice job at 3.8yards before contact...for RBs w over 50 touches that ranks second in the NFL. James Cook and Ray Davis both at 1.9 yards before contact rank in the 60s

[TheFunPolice]

I like our RBs and running game...

 

Also, Henry has been banged up late in the season pretty much every year. 

 

He's in the perfect spot for him honestly, playing with Lamar

[dpberr]

No.  It's a *long* season.  Weather is nice now.

 

He's older, and slower.  You're seeing the very best effort at peak condition (no injury) in the very best of football playing conditions a 30-year old RB can provide.

 

I wouldn't want that contract on the Bills books next year either, even with the out.  

[Bruffalo]

Samuel being as bad as he's been is not something I think anyone could have truly expected. To me, Beane gets a pass here, because analytics guys really liked the Samuel pickup as well as casual observers. Nobody thought it was enough, but everyone thought it was a good start.

 

I don't think it makes a whole lot of sense to pay RBs anymore if the rest of your offense isn't set.  So sure, with the benefit of hindsight maybe that would have been a great move. Nobody has that in the moment though. 

[GoBills808]

20 minutes ago, Logic said:

Bills running game has mostly been good. 

I like all three of our running backs.

If we're gonna go back and play the "what we could've used Curtis Samuel's money for instead" game, I'd rather have seen us sign a quality safety.

We are 19th in the league in both yards/game and YPA

[K D]

1 hour ago, Royale with Cheese said:

Some of you guys need to let some of these misses go.  Every GM has misses.

 

To answer the question, no, I don't want Derrick Henry.  If we had signed Henry, we probably wouldn't have had the money to trade for Amari Cooper.

Beane is god...until he's not...but then again nobody is 😂 

 

Not saying you are saying that but that's pretty much the consensus around here. Lots of extremes on both ends. How about he's human and he's doing his best and sometimes he hits and sometimes he misses? We should be able to have honest conversations about what we could have or should not have done without people going nuts on each other!

[Simon]

13 minutes ago, dpberr said:

No.  It's a *long* season.  Weather is nice now.

 

He's older, and slower.  You're seeing the very best effort at peak condition (no injury) in the very best of football playing conditions a 30-year old RB can provide.

 

I wouldn't want that contract on the Bills books next year either, even with the out.  

 

Agree with all of this except one thing.

He is not slower; in fact he looks as fast or faster to me than he has at almost any time in his career.

Which is decidedly not typical for 30yr old 250lb backs.

 

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see him fail a PED test, especially if he ends up having to rehab an injury.

[FireChans]

No. I kinda liked the idea, but the Ravens need a power RB to keep the ball out of Lamar’s hands a bit and get them into loaded boxes.  The Bills don’t need that as much, they needed somebody to win outside and keep the ball in Josh’s hands as much as possible.

 

I think James Cook has more value to the Bills today than Henry.