WhitewalkerInPhilly

It's hard to argue when they've been to the AFC championship game 5 years in a row. Are they unbeatably better? No. Do I think that the Bills win the divisional round if the defense isn't battered to hell? Yes. The Chiefs have a length on us. They have a big salary cap lead over us. I don't see anything to do other than try to keep hitting on draft picks until 2026 and hope we get lucky.

He was epically mismanaged, battered behind a bad O line, replaced by an aging Rodgers and then hung out to dry for the disappointment of a season

That does bother me. With the run game so successful and Kincaid available to attack seam routes I really thought we'd see more of it. I can't even say it was a Dorsey thing, Dorsey did plenty of play action

If you want to ask the question "Is Diggs play equal relative to his play when compared to other WRs?" I'd have to say at the moment, no (at this moment 6th among WRs) so I get the frustration. However, over the next year or two the WR market is going to explode. This offseason has Mike Evans, OBJ, Boyd and Tee Higgins hitting the market. Ja'Marr Chase, Keenan Allen and Amari Cooper next year. These guys are going to get paid, and they are going to get paid shattering amounts of money. I very much like a receiving corps of Diggs, a high pick rookie, Shakir, Kincaid with Cook out of the backfield.

I pretty much agree with you. These trade proposals are so outlandish that I really can't believe there is any real chance of coming to pass. I mean, a player for player trade not only means that the Bills take a major bath on cap space they don't have, then they have to pay the other guy. I mean, I can see that it's possible that Beane is looking down the road and sees stuff that we don't, and that in 2025 the team gets what they can for him. But Diggs is entering year three of a six year contact. Even his worst year as a Bill he was still 13th in the league in receiving yards. With the cap situation as it is, I find it far and away more likely that Beane restructures the contract and starts grooming a successor with a plan to move Diggs inside like the Cardinals did with Fitzgerald. Diggs' skillset has never been elite speed or size, it's that he has above average and is a great route runner which in my mind would make him dominant if we have someone else to stick on the boundary.

I mean if his answer to the oncoming flames is to douse himself in gasoline...

Well, I have heard that Brandon Beane includes language in his contracts that means that a base salary conversion can happen without player say so. He makes this part of his standard free agent contracts. I far more see Diggs' comments being about how he has zero choice in how that goes, because he can get restructred without his permission and stay in Buffalo or he knows that if he isn't restructured then 2024 is a make it or break it year and if things don't go well he's probably on a different team in 2025. This sounds much more likely that "Secret trade deal that wrecks the Bills cap"

I am willing to bet -5000 odds that Diggs in on the roster come the season opening. I give it better than even money that he gets his contract reworked to shift guaranteed money further down his contract. You want to talk 25, 26? Maybe. I'd expect those comments are more for then.

I think that's people putting their wishes into reading his comments. Diggs statement is among the most bland statement I can imagine.

I mean, I hope he gets rid of Joe Douglas. The man has been drafting extremely well and his biggest free agent miscues have been getting Rodgers (a desperate dice roll) and getting ex-Packers to make Rodgers happy

I mean, his competition isn't particularly potent but I agree that he has a high upside. I do not mean to rag on Diggs (plenty of other people are doing it) but at this point I think Kincaid was our most consistent ball mover. Yes, he had a few drops and Josh lasered a few throws high and away but he still had the second highest catch rate on the team (80.2%, 1st was Shakir at 86.7%, Diggs was 67% and it gets worse from there). He could always be counted on to get a few yards after catch and contact. I don't see how you go into 2024 without making Kincaid the emergency release valve that Beasley was. Sure, work on getting deeper routes going, but let Kincaid take the easy profit on 1st and 2nd down. I remember keenly in the last KC drive hitting him like clockwork on early downs for 7 yards a pop and setting up short and manageable. You can do a lot playing like that. As I heard of one Australian "'Roo's are shredded mate" When Australians take note, it's probably dangerous

I do not know where this pay cut talk came from. If anything, he's more likely to get his money up front by the Bills converting his salary into a bonus to make cap space. This is the media making up insane "what if" scenarios that disregard the cap situation, asking the guy that they are speculating out how he feels about that, and then speculating on what his answer means. The snake is eating its own tail because after Sunday we start a 7 month slog to the next season and they are running out of things to talk about.

My worry on 2025 is that three no-brainer moves (in my mind) this offseason will be extensions of Dawkins, Taron Johnson and Douglas. They will probably be backloaded. That's going to start digging into 2025 already. Some of our expected big ticket departures (Von, Knox) will have good sized dead money chunks so I don't think the Bills will be heavy bidders until '26

Let me tell you something: I was in Philly for the last few years of Reid's career. "Widely ridiculed" was not the feeling on the street. There was frustration after a decade of overall high level play hadn't resulted in a championship, and gripes about Reid's time management and penchant for trying for WR screens (sound familiar to anyone?) but in general it was a bittersweet moment. I mean, maybe Philadelphia sports fans are just big softies...:P But seriously, Reid went to 4 straight conference championship games (5 total) and made the playoffs more often than not over the course of over a decade with the Eagles, went to the Chiefs and won their division all but one year. Yes, Mahomes pushed him over the finish line, but you don't get that amount of success over 25 years without being a good coach.

Agree that the team is about to get a whole lot younger on D. Maybe the vets and journeymen hold off late round rookies for a season, but our cap space in 2025 isn't an immediate money pot for profligate spending I thoroughly expect that by 2025, Milano will be a grizzled veteran as one of the longest consecutive members of the defense and that makes me feel old.

Delicious brisket. Possibly some wings this weekend. And note, I said current NFL. Name the current bellcow backs in the NFL. Derrick Henry? Joe Mixon? Saquon Barkley? Cook had 45 less rushing yards than Henry (not counting receiving) and ran for more than Mixon, Barkley and Pacheco. This is the model of the current NFL. Derrick Henry is probably this generation's epitome of a bellcow back, probably the highest standard of an every down rusher and he might be out of the league next year. The model right now for smashmouth football is the Niners. Right now I would say that Cook isn't Singletary 2.0, he's a poor man's CMC. Not as good, but that he had a year roughly in the same stratosphere are CMC is pretty darn good, and that we can work on a niche for that in our schemes.

I don't what they're called, I've been X-iled. It's BlueSky for life now! But seriously, everyone still calls it Twitter except for journalists who reference it as "X, formerly known as Twitter"

Same. I have no idea how it will go, but the team is definitely seeing its more senior members poached away. I would much rather see a college coach alternate between the pros and college before giving him a shot at a coordinator position.

Definitely a number #1 in the current NFL. The current model seems to be "by committee" unless you have a special back, and honestly CMC and Cook fall into that category. Even they have #2 support. Solid #2 hard running options are usually cheap to pick up (see Damien Harris and Ty Johnson)

It also neglects any salary cap implications. It's silly season, prepare for 6 weeks of wild speculation that comes to naught.

____ Hey, you can make the case that Tucker Carlson is uniquely qualified for the job, as he has had plenty of practice with Putin's US mouthpiece 😁 Legitimately though, it's not the end of the world to have Tucker Carlson interview Putin. I mean, everything Putin says should be taken with a grain of salt, and I've seen better interviewing skills from a guy whose schtick is getting people to eats wings, but he should have the right. He just in no way should be taken seriously as a journalist.

I mean, I thought the Jessie Waters show was evidence enough of that. ... Oh, you meant the Tucker thing.

I'll be honest, it was actually refreshing to be asked to actually provide reasoning for my stance and give it. Usually this board does not bother. And while I will say climate change isn't the biggest reason for the current surge, it's coming: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/06/20/621782275/the-refugees-that-the-world-barely-pays-attention-to Which is why I would prefer we'd have been working on an actual solution to the problem rather than the performance theater we have been getting from politicians. (I will include Democrats in there too)

I am genuinely surprised that you made it to the 2nd grade.

Fortunately, it takes very little time surpass you.