Free Agency Splash target should be DJ Reed

[Big Blitz]

Going to Washington. 
 

Don't even bother with the biggest name FAs.  
 

Ain't happening.  
 

It’s either trade.  Mid level UFAs.  Or hit in the draft.   
 

 

Knowing full well the big fish UFAs are impossible is why many of us are frustrated with so many early round “busts” with this regime.  

[Pete]

I like Reed.  I like Carlton Davis III too.  I want to see Buffalo sign a starting CB before the draft, to free up our draft board.

[GunnerBill]

1 hour ago, Pete said:

I like Reed.  I like Carlton Davis III too.  I want to see Buffalo sign a starting CB before the draft, to free up our draft board.

 

I actually expect them to. Whether it is a Reed or a Davis or maybe someone more like a Paulson Adebo or a Byron Murphy I'm not sure. But I'd be surprised if they go into the draft with their outside corners as just Benford and Elam. If they do they are forced to use a 1st or 2nd round pick on one and last time that was the case they reached on Elam.

[FireChans]

23 hours ago, Magox said:

I am convinced that the biggest weakness we had against the Chiefs was the inability to disguise coverages and take Mahomes off of his first read.
 

He was getting the ball out in 2.29 seconds which means no matter who who the Bills would have had whether it was a Myles Garrett or Max Crosby it wouldn’t have made a lick of difference on those first read throws which was the vast majority of his drop back passes.

 

There are a few reasons for this, one being that the scheme was entirely too predictable and Mahomes knew pre snap exactly where he was going to go.

 

Another reason was personnel issues at CB, Benford has become a decent press man cover corner even though his wheel house is more suited for zone - man match defensive coverage.  When Benford went out, the Bills lost their best press man cover corner and all that was left was Rasul who is below average on man to man coverage and Kair who was utterly rudderless meaning that this severely impacted the Bills ability to blitz and the available aggressive schemes they could dial up.

 

The Bills only blitzed 6 times and Mahomes was 3 for 4 with 3 first downs on those blitzes.

 

Here is an example of how badly Rasul covered one of those plays.

 

 

I am also convinced that McD who at heart loves coaching the DB aspects of the game must have been extremely frustrated this year watching the Bills secondary get sliced up on third downs and not being able to stop top tier passers from throwing on his defense.

 

The Bills very likely will not bring back Kairr nor Douglas and I do not believe they will be satisfied with entrusting a rookie boundary CB to play the critical role of pairing up with Benford.

 

I think they will go for a DB who excels at press man and zone man match defense and for me the big splash signing this FA should be DJ Reed.

 

He is really good at playing man to man, he’s only 28 years old, he has the quickness to hang with KC’s quicker WR’s.   He’s ultra competitive, he’s got that dawg in him, knows the division very well and probably can be had for around $13-15m a year sort of deal.

 

Having him and Benford will allow the defense to scheme up more disguises, have more pressure packages and allow the defense to dictate more on high leverage moments.

 

 

The best we can do is a lightly used Mike Hughes and a day 2 pick.

[MrEpsYtown]

You will get Donte Jackson and you will like it!

 

I kid, kind of. I just don't see them shelling out money for a top corner like that. To me, the play is to spend on a safety like Jevon Holland. IMO, the safety position in this defense is just so much more important than corner and I don't see them spending on a top corner. 

 

At corner I see a buy-low upside play like Eric Stokes or Kritsian Fulton. 

Edited Monday at 01:34 PM by MrEpsYtown

[Dillenger4]

6 minutes ago, MrEpsYtown said:

You will get Donte Jackson and you will like it!

 

I kid, kind of. I just don't see them shelling out money for a top corner like that. To me, the play is to spend on a safety like Jevon Holland. IMO, the safety position in this defense is just so much more important than corner and I don't see them spending on a top corner. 

 

At corner I see a buy-low upside play like Eric Stokes or Kritsian Fulton. 

This is my thought too. They go after a Safety and a DE (Crosby for example). With a rush our CB's aren't expected to do a lot. We roll Taron over a lot too - so with a better pass rush and Safety, we play "our" game and that doesn't require a top CB.

[HamptonBillsfan]

23 hours ago, Magox said:

I am convinced that the biggest weakness we had against the Chiefs was the inability to disguise coverages and take Mahomes off of his first read.
 

He was getting the ball out in 2.29 seconds which means no matter who who the Bills would have had whether it was a Myles Garrett or Max Crosby it wouldn’t have made a lick of difference on those first read throws which was the vast majority of his drop back passes.

 

There are a few reasons for this, one being that the scheme was entirely too predictable and Mahomes knew pre snap exactly where he was going to go.

 

Another reason was personnel issues at CB, Benford has become a decent press man cover corner even though his wheel house is more suited for zone - man match defensive coverage.  When Benford went out, the Bills lost their best press man cover corner and all that was left was Rasul who is below average on man to man coverage and Kair who was utterly rudderless meaning that this severely impacted the Bills ability to blitz and the available aggressive schemes they could dial up.

 

The Bills only blitzed 6 times and Mahomes was 3 for 4 with 3 first downs on those blitzes.

 

Here is an example of how badly Rasul covered one of those plays.

 

 

I am also convinced that McD who at heart loves coaching the DB aspects of the game must have been extremely frustrated this year watching the Bills secondary get sliced up on third downs and not being able to stop top tier passers from throwing on his defense.

 

The Bills very likely will not bring back Kairr nor Douglas and I do not believe they will be satisfied with entrusting a rookie boundary CB to play the critical role of pairing up with Benford.

 

I think they will go for a DB who excels at press man and zone man match defense and for me the big splash signing this FA should be DJ Reed.

 

He is really good at playing man to man, he’s only 28 years old, he has the quickness to hang with KC’s quicker WR’s.   He’s ultra competitive, he’s got that dawg in him, knows the division very well and probably can be had for around $13-15m a year sort of deal.

 

Having him and Benford will allow the defense to scheme up more disguises, have more pressure packages and allow the defense to dictate more on high leverage moments.

 

 

Got to be concerned with entire secondary. Benford had two rapid fire concussions. That situation makes his future tenuous with him leading with his head so much. Douglas is gone and Rapp can’t stay healthy. The rookie we drafted looked like a deer in the headlights at safety, so we’re desperately in need of FAs and quality draft choices to stabilize the back end.

[thenorthremembers]

Serious question isnt DJ Reed a nickelback?   He's 5'9.  

[Kelly to Allen]

23 minutes ago, HamptonBillsfan said:

Got to be concerned with entire secondary. Benford had two rapid fire concussions. That situation makes his future tenuous with him leading with his head so much. Douglas is gone and Rapp can’t stay healthy. The rookie we drafted looked like a deer in the headlights at safety, so we’re desperately in need of FAs and quality draft choices to stabilize the back end.

 

You're going to see 2-3 CBS drafted relatively high. And 2 safeties drafted possibly. 

 

The dline and secondary will probably be most of the picks. 

 

7-9 picks could all be on defense. 

 

 

 

 

Edited Monday at 02:19 PM by Kelly to Allen

[HamptonBillsfan]

9 minutes ago, Kelly to Allen said:

 

You're going to see 2-3 CBS drafted relatively high. And 2 safeties drafted possibly. 

 

The dline and secondary will probably be most of the picks. 

 

7-9 picks could all be on defense. 

 

 

 

 

Sounds right and we  desperately need a FA hard hitting safety or edge guy. Someone who can provide leadership for all these young guys.

[Kelly to Allen]

The bills are going to draft a wr probably in rds 2-4 if I had to guess. 

 

Keon Coleman needs to workout with Eric Moulds or Andre Reed in the off- season. I think it would really help him a ton with the nuances of the position. The raw ability is definitely there

Edited Monday at 02:33 PM by Kelly to Allen

[GunnerBill]

1 hour ago, MrEpsYtown said:

You will get Donte Jackson and you will like it!

 

I kid, kind of. I just don't see them shelling out money for a top corner like that. To me, the play is to spend on a safety like Jevon Holland. IMO, the safety position in this defense is just so much more important than corner and I don't see them spending on a top corner. 

 

At corner I see a buy-low upside play like Eric Stokes or Kritsian Fulton. 

 

Yea I have Holland as my #1 FA target. And Stokes and Fulton both make sense although after the year he had with the Chargers not sure Fulton will be buy low. He took a 1 year prove it last year, played really well, I expect him to get a decent deal. 

44 minutes ago, thenorthremembers said:

Serious question isnt DJ Reed a nickelback?   He's 5'9.  

 

Nope, he is a boundary corner. Despite being a shorter guy he has long arms and huge hands. Like freakish size on a guy that short. His arms are an inch longer than Kaiir Elam who is 3 inches taller. 

[Magox]

14 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Yea I have Holland as my #1 FA target. And Stokes and Fulton both make sense although after the year he had with the Chargers not sure Fulton will be buy low. He took a 1 year prove it last year, played really well, I expect him to get a decent deal. 

 

Nope, he is a boundary corner. Despite being a shorter guy he has long arms and huge hands. Like freakish size on a guy that short. His arms are an inch longer than Kaiir Elam who is 3 inches taller. 

 

I would love Holland, good against the run and pass, he's a leader, very competitive and a playmaker. The only problem is that he will most likely cost somewhere in the $18 - $20M a year range.

[MrEpsYtown]

41 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Yea I have Holland as my #1 FA target. And Stokes and Fulton both make sense although after the year he had with the Chargers not sure Fulton will be buy low. He took a 1 year prove it last year, played really well, I expect him to get a decent deal. 

 

Nope, he is a boundary corner. Despite being a shorter guy he has long arms and huge hands. Like freakish size on a guy that short. His arms are an inch longer than Kaiir Elam who is 3 inches taller. 

 

Thoughts on Elijah Molden as a safety fit here? 

 

[JP51]

Lot of area's on D that need to be improved... but my main focus would be on a game wrecking DL either a DE or a 1T.. then play it out from there... the existence of a pass rush and a guy that blows sh(t up gonna help everyone...  Do that and I would walk it back with Benford and Douglas.. now if Douglas goes ... then you gotta do something like you are talking about... just wonder if it isnt cheaper to retain Douglas? 

[Kelly to Allen]

3 minutes ago, JP51 said:

Lot of area's on D that need to be improved... but my main focus would be on a game wrecking DL either a DE or a 1T.. then play it out from there... the existence of a pass rush and a guy that blows sh(t up gonna help everyone...  Do that and I would walk it back with Benford and Douglas.. now if Douglas goes ... then you gotta do something like you are talking about... just wonder if it isnt cheaper to retain Douglas? 

 

They can meet all their needs if beane actually has a really good draft. 

 

 

[GunnerBill]

10 minutes ago, MrEpsYtown said:

 

Thoughts on Elijah Molden as a safety fit here? 

 

 

I like him and he is definitely an upgrade on what we have at free safety but I am not sure he is their type. 5'10 and sub 30 inch arms

37 minutes ago, Magox said:

 

I would love Holland, good against the run and pass, he's a leader, very competitive and a playmaker. The only problem is that he will most likely cost somewhere in the $18 - $20M a year range.

 

If he gets that it's probably a bit rich for us. I'd go to $15-16m AAV though. 

12 minutes ago, JP51 said:

Lot of area's on D that need to be improved... but my main focus would be on a game wrecking DL either a DE or a 1T.. then play it out from there... the existence of a pass rush and a guy that blows sh(t up gonna help everyone...  Do that and I would walk it back with Benford and Douglas.. now if Douglas goes ... then you gotta do something like you are talking about... just wonder if it isnt cheaper to retain Douglas? 

 

I don't want Douglas back even if he is playing for free. 

[JP51]

15 minutes ago, Kelly to Allen said:

 

They can meet all their needs if beane actually has a really good draft. 

 

 

I dont disagree... not at all 

[JP51]

12 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I like him and he is definitely an upgrade on what we have at free safety but I am not sure he is their type. 5'10 and sub 30 inch arms

 

If he gets that it's probably a bit rich for us. I'd go to $15-16m AAV though. 

 

I don't want Douglas back even if he is playing for free. 

He did regress... but honestly I wonder what we thought was gonna happen when we took out Hyde and Poyer ... and gave him no pass rush... I feel like you fix pass rush and Safety and he is a better player.. but I am clearly gonna be fine with an upgrade there... and quite honestly, I dont think there is even gonna be a debate.. I think he is outta here back to Green Bay... 

[Florida Bills Fanatic]

McD gets the best results on defense when he has one corner that excels in man coverage.  It allows him to squeeze the zones to the other side and mix coverages underneath.  Benford isn't that kind of player.  He is good but not good enough.  Bills haven't had a player to be that guy since White's first leg injury.  They thought Elam would be that kind of player but he has shown us that he is not.  Given the cap situation, I won't hold my breath for a big free agent corner signing.  I do expect them to make a decent free agent addition that will be an improvement over Douglas.  I also expect them to add a press-man corner early in the draft to compete for a starting assignment.  The defense overall needs better talent at all three levels.  Corner, Safety, DE and LB are places that need help.  They have enough draft picks to make an impact. They also need Solomon and Carter to get stronger and be better against the run.