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Always find it comical, half this board has the patience of my 7 yr old. Coleman wasn't even drinking age when we drafted him LY...cue the Edmunds jokes. People need to learn patience and very few on here see the traits as to why Beane drafted him, and can project those. Now will Coleman hit that ceiling, up to him. But he has put on more muscle, looks quicker this offseason. Based on how we use him (Adot 15.2), we needed him improve his strenghth at route breaks and mainly downfield at the catch point. He's a freak athlete, I could careless about his forty. He gets stronger at the catch point, that won't matter. He's also one of the WRs Josh coveted out of last years class. Point being, player progression year 1 to year 2 is a big deal. James Cook, Terrel Bernard, Shakir, Spencer Brown...list goes on. This team has a knack for getting year 2 jumps, Kincaid aside. Give this kid a chance before you write him off - he showed glimpses last year, has been working his tail off this offseason.

The Draft is a crapshoot. You win some and lose some

I’ve watched pretty much every game Purdy has ever played in the NFL as my wife is a die hard Niners fan. 2 things I’m confident in. 1. Many people in this thread have not watched him play a lot and seem to have a lot of strong opinions based on preconceived assumptions. 2. He’s better than many are giving him credit for. Will he live up to the contract? We will see, but it’s not as egregious as it’s being made out to be IMHO.

I think you would almost certainly be right averaged across that period. Indeed I suspect the Bills would come out slightly below average in terms of sheer volume of injuries. I can't be accused of not having context across the league. I do know who the starters are and who the backups are for the other 31. And teams just don't go on deep playoff runs with the cluster injuries the Bills had on defense in the 2023 post season. I'd have a real bet on that let alone a fake one. Teams don't make Superbowls when half their defense is backups. I would also have a fake bet that no other team over the past 8 or 9 years has lost its two highest paid defensive players to season ending injuries halfway through the year in back to back seasons. I haven't sat and gone through that properly but I have had a think and can't recall one. As I said earlier... being down one player isn't an excuse not to make the Superbowl, I'm not saying that. But it is still pretty rotten luck injury wise.

No disrespect…But that really isn’t a fair list to show he has an affinity or type IMHO. Only Gabe and Keon were drafted to be potential long term starters and were when we had no size in the WR room. Mack was a bandaid to fill dirty work for the void Gabe left in a season we had $31M dead cap at WR alone. Holmes was a ST player, Duke was a CFL nothing invested PS player, so was Shorter. And KB was added midseason of a year we weren’t supposed to make the playoffs when we suddenly had a chance to break the drought. And there were no other WRs traded, so it’s not like he had his pick and chose KB. Almost all the actual relevant WRs to play real minutes here were smaller. We had John Brown…then he invested a first and a 4th in Diggs and gave him big money multiple times. He added guys like Sanders, Samuel, and Shakir to play outside or mix in some outside. Not to mention the rest of our WR room had guys like Cole, McKenzie, Crowder, Harty, etc. So no offense, but I don’t think his type is what you think it is. Yes went after size and toughness when Gabe left because all we had was a small WR room. We use blocking at the WR position a lot, and it’s one of the reasons we originally drafted Gabe because we had no size. Just like Keon, we had no size. It’s not a “type” it was a hole in the roster when we added Mack/Keon last year and Gabe before them. Our WR room was known as midgets prior to Gabe getting here even. Beane does have a type though IMHO…his type is, and has been, balance. Right or wrong, that’s his real type IMO. And he has added some influence and second layer into his type lately too which is toughness as we were not physical enough across the table, not just at WR. And I personally think last year was Allen’s best year playing QB, not the years throwing to small WRs and having the most turnovers in the NFL days. Again, just my opinion, but I think more people believe 2024 was his best season than don’t. Im personally excited to see what year 2 of Brady’s offense brings and how this team comes together.

I’ve already said it in another thread. Coleman is the receiver fighting for the final roster spot. Shakir, Palmer, Moore, Samuels are all making it. 5th spot will be between Coleman and whoever else. Beane and McDermott were not happy with him. He is not a lock to make the team as many seem to think IMO. Unless he really really makes a jump from last year.

With the way QB’s have become available the past couple years, doubling down and paying top dollar for mediocrity should not have been the alternative.

We also played KC without their WR1 Rashee Rice (in fact they went through almost the entire season without him). In my mind you can only blame a loss on injuries for 3 reasons: 1) Missing an elite QB 2) Missing a DPOY type player (TJ Watt, Myles Garret, etc) 3) Missing multiple players on a specific unit The Bills were decimated by injuries in 2023 at LB and secondary going into the 3rd playoff game vs Chiefs. That's the only playoff loss I would blame on injuries. It's unfortunate we didn't have Tre in 2021, Von Miller in 2022, or Benford for most of the 2024 game, but it should've been possible to overcome those injuries and put together a decent defensive game.

I think Brady's system is more dependent on having an X physical WR2 who can block and has decent ball skills despite not being the best separator. The problem is we don't have a 2020 Diggs on the other side giving D-coordinators nightmares taking the pressure off Coleman. I just wish somehow there was a guy available this Offseason that we could've hypothetically traded for without having to give up a 1st round pick.

Yeah, it would be too difficult to figure out the number and importance of injuries for all teams across the board and compare. So I get saying every team gets injured and should have depth anyhow, so I'm not going to weigh injuries in too much in assessing the playoff losses (or use it as an excuse for years where the injuries weren't that many or significant). But, I would say 7/8 starters out or playing through a significant injury is probably above normal for winning playoff teams (but maybe I'm wrong)---unless the other team is as beat up as you are. And I might put a fake bet down, but I would shorten the time frame to 2021-2023. I think those three seasons we might have been above the norm in significant injuries. But, as you said, ultimately who knows. (and I don't think you're being a jerk 👍.)

With respect to outside WRs, Beane has shown a persistent affinity for every draftnik's most dreaded profile: the long, strong, physical, contested catch guy. Kelvin Benjamin, Andre Holmes, Duke Williams, Gabe Davis, Justin Shorter, Mack Hollins, Keon Coleman, etc. There is a role for these guys, but with the Bills, it's such an obvious role of motioning inside to run block or run a slant, fade, or maybe a shallow crosser/intermediate flag a la mesh concept... Offense seemed to SHINE with smaller, faster, better separators (and different OC). Maybe that was a specific "era" in the NFL, but Allen sure seemed to flourish with guys who got OPEN. Imagine that lol.

Which week was the worst of Bill Stime’s TDS journey and why was it this one?

I don't know but why are we talking about WR? We scored over 30 points in eight straight games last year. This isn't fantasy football. Talking about WR is one of the dumbest things we should be doing right now.

Omg

This is where I STRONGLY disagree. It isn't any knock on Spags or on Fangio who are both among the best defensive coordinators of their generation. But is talent #1. It is ALWAYS talent #1. In both cases the defensive improvement can be tracked specifically to the point the talent was significantly upgraded. In Fangio's case the two happened simultaneously. In Spags case though the evidence is pretty clear. He became DC in 2019 and their regular season defense actually got worse, and their post season defense stayed about the same, until Brett Veach committed to getting him better talent to work with. Then it took off.

At this point I don't have alot of faith that Keon becomes a WR1 or WR2. His only viable contribution based on his lack of speed seems to be the deep jump ball. And if he's so dominant at the gauntlet, why not use him more on slants or crosses? Alot of eyes will be on Coleman and Kincaid this fall.

Yea. McConkey is a slot receiver. He is darn good but he is a slot receiver. Forget the fact that the Bills already had one.... I just never love the value of taking those guys round 1. Unles they are true elite guys (and maybe Ladd is) the positional value is hard to overlook.

Not trying to be a jerk here, but this is the usual stuff on the board and I don't give anybody a pass. You have no idea if our injuries are more or less. Even within the context of just playoff teams, let alone the the regular season. The Lions or the _____'s or the ____'s have nothing to do with it. The injury beating crew do it without the context of what is normal and what is not normal. How can anything be abnormal if you cant establish normal? I will place my fake bet and say the Buffalo Bills from 2020-2025 have not faced an abnormal amount of injuries comparative to the league average. Are you putting your fake bet down to say that isn't the case?

True and I guess at that point in the draft you have to bet on traits. McConkey would've been an even bigger head scratcher at that spot and we would've spent months debating whether he could play on the outside if Beane drafted him. Lol.

I think ultimately it was the case for the Bills defense in 2023 too. I know they nearly did but you just don't win playoff games without that many guys on D. And even had they got past KC in the Divisional Round it would have sunk them against Baltimore in the AFCCG IMO. That is the only year where I think injuries ultimately doomed the Bills. Have they had great luck otherwise? No. They had White and then Von suffer season enders in consecutive years - their two most talented and highest paid defensive stars - that is really unfortunate and I don't think you will find any other team in the NFL to whom that happened that way.... but losing ONE player is never legitmately the reason for a playoff defeat unless that one guy is your Quarterback. So White missing 2021, Von missing 2022, Benford going out early in 2024.... they are not excuses. They are unfortunate. But you have to pull on your big boy pants, next man up and find a way.

Not knowing what a PRIVATE trainer is putting in your own body is an absolutely INSANE claim for a professional athlete to make. Maybe 30 years ago that could hold water. Then again, didn't Ohtani make this same scapegoat scenario work for him? Even with some super bizarre/contradictory messaging out there initially.

Nor did I but as @gonzo1105 has said he fits a lot of the criteria the Bills look for - a good RAS profile (despite the speed issue), size, long arms, young, had him in on a 30 visit etc.

Injuries are not the reason we lost all of our playoff games, but no doubt they were an important factor in certain years (a couple of the losses). It shouldn't preclude us from looking at other reasons or factors in our playoff losses though (for instance, 2021/2022: coaching/talent/defense; 2024/2025: refs, etc.). Going back to Detroit last year, they had a lot of injuries...but for some reason, even the backup players got listed in articles and posts about their injuries/losses last year. That usually doesn't happen. But, as far as their playoff game, they were missing 4 players (Hutchinson, Peko, Barnes, and McNeil) who were starters at the beginning of the year. And Anzalone was recently back from injury (so probably not at his peak). But, for instance, in '23/'24 vs. Chiefs in the playoffs, the Bills were missing 5 players (Tre White, Milano, Bernard, Benford, Gabe Davis) who were starters at the beginning of the year. And Rasul Douglas was playing with a knee injury and Taron Johnson was playing through a concussion he sustained the week before. And then if you want to talk volume (in comparison to Detroit's backup players missing, etc.), the Bills were also missing both backup safeties (Rapp and Hamlin), Jordan Phillips, Baylon Spector (normally not a big deal, but with both starting LBs out...), Damien Harris, and our punter Martin was playing injured (groin if I remember correctly). And we only lost by 3 points. Not sure how some posters still don't think injuries were not a factor that year. And, again, why does Detroit get a pass for last year, but the Bills don't get a pass for '23/'24?

Which was the prevailing thought at least on this board to my recollection. I remember going into round 2 thinking Adonai Mitchell made the most sense at pick 33 because he was a faster guy who played on the outside who had a chance at developing into a WR1. I was even prepared for Franklin. I definitely didn't expect Coleman given Beane's comments in the past on what he learned about the WR's Josh excelled with. I hope Coleman develops into a true outside weapon but his rookie year was exactly what I expected.