WhitewalkerInPhilly

Welp, not anymore. I would have loved him, but Beane just gutted the WR position.

I'm not a cap expert, but I am pretty sure that a $3M cap hit is the MINIMUM the Bills would be taking. To my knowledge, no trade can account for monies already paid out as part of signing bonuses or restructures.

I mean is this is real, I don't see how the hell Beane waits until 28. Either he is 100% confident that he can get a guy in the 1st round, or the Bills window just closed.

Are we sure that this isn't a very good hoax? Because that is such a massively bad deal and it's very uncharacteristic of Beane, especially after guarantees kicked in.

For the love of god, how thin skinned are some of you? Yeah, Diggs is a drama llama and a bit of a ***** stirrer. I don't care. I don't remember him ever slagging off the team in public. The closest was his visible frustration on the sideline at how poor the game planning and execution for the offense was for the Bengals game which...same. Remember when he posted a heart emoji, and then "Ready for Whatever" and people assumed he was trying to force his way off the team? Some people got an idea fixed in their head and are going to interpret all evidence to that end, regardless of context.

Rumors were that Reddick was unhappy because he wanted a big extension and the Eagles weren't giving him because his best year was 4 years ago and while productive was seeing diminished returns So hey Banner, load up on aging players on the decline

I mean I don't disagree. But if there is a run on WR and there is just no one they like and there is a guy who should have been top 15, I'll take that and pick WR in the 2nd round.

At the least, I think it puts Beane in position to truly take BPA. I may not *love* all of our starters, but seemingly everyone is at bridge-starter level. I might prefer a WR or DB, but if a game wrecker falls and they're a D-line or O-line piece, I can live with that.

I was literally thinking "Hey, a guy with a bit of production probably on a vet minimum contract. Won't affect the salary cap due to the rules. Worst case scenario he's a camp body. We'd have to really try to be upset about that" And then some of us did.

Especially wth WR, I was critical of McConkey, but he's looking to fit the mold Beane wants

In my mind, it is. Not because I expect Diggs to go anywhere anytime soon but for the following: I don't expect the Bills play/state of the AFC to drop off/surge enough that the Bills will be picking in the teens to low 20s anytime soon. This particular draft looks like one where it might be the only one for the next few years where the Bills are in position to draft someone who projects as one. Diggs' greatest strengths have never been elite measurables so much as above average one married to excellent route running and technique. He's been so good at it that he is a true WR1, but teams have devoted gameplan to doing their best to shut him down. He's not Tyreek Hill, where by pure speed he can get outside, or work in the backfield and get 30 yards. The best thing for him is to take pressure off so teams can't shift coverage to his side. I did not expect Diggs to go anywhere this offseason, and don't think it's likely that he goes anywhere in 2025, if I am looking down the road in 2026 he will be 33 and costing the Bills $28.5 million in cap space. While the top $'s for WRs is about to explode around then, that's a decent chunk of change to invest in a player on the downside of their career. I'd much prefer an insurance policy in the works.

To get this out of the way: this isn't me claiming that I have any special juice about what's going in the war room. It also isn't an absolute path. If a player who has been forecasted in the top 10-15 is there for the taking in the 20s, I am even for a (reasonable) trade up. If Jared Verse, Brian Thomas or Adonai Mitchell (make your pick of who you think WR4 in the draft is) or whoever you think is an instant game wrecker, you take them. However, as is often the case, I am seeing a bit of a glut around pick 20 on most mocks and Big Boards where plays transition from Week 1 Gamechanger to Week 1 Effective Starter. The truth is, with Beane at work, I don't think that there are any massive glaring immediate needs on the roster: Curtis Samuel can play outside enough that it's not critically dire. Epenesa, Groot and Miller are (in theory) a recent starting DE rotation. They have plenty of depth at LB, have theoretical starters in the secondary, the O-line is mostly intact, RB room is pretty full, and TE doesn't need more reinforcement. Basically, while I think there are several places where the Bills could upgrade, there is at least a theoretical veteran that a rookie would need to take the job from. However, a lot of those contracts are short term, set to expire by 2026 and the team is already over the cap for 2025. If we can't get a gamewrecker, would we say no to another 3rd or 4th round pick if Beane lets someone trade in from the back end?

I hear that penicillin clears that right up

I don't know about breaking tackles, but so many of the catches I've seen are dump off routes where contact his made at the moment of the catch and he still pushes forward for a few more yards. He especially carved out a niche for blitz beaters, as that became a big part of the gameplan near the end of Dorsey. As a reminder, Gabe Davis was on the blitz beater in the Eagles game. You know the one. Kincaid has things to work on for his game for sure. He can put on some muscle this offseason and work on his blocking technique, but if you look at Zach Ertz's first two years in the league Kincaid's production is right there.

My takeaway is that Samuel isn't out dedicated outside burner. However, he *can* play there and be productive. I am imagining a 3WR set with him and a rookie in a condensed formation where you don't know if one is going to cut inside or not.

I wouldn't hate it, but I think now the Bills are truly in position to take BPA and worry about backfilling the bandaids in the later rounds.

I agree that Joe Douglas has made some nice picks and has done a decent job of teambuilding (exempting all of Aaron Rodger's buddies). I can't hate him too much for taking a swing on a former MVP QB, especially when he got the money kicked back. They are a legitimate team for 2024. The problem is, if you look at all of their one year deals, they are soaking up the immediate cap space and putting it on the year where Rodger's cap hit goes up to $51 million. The moment that deal ends, they are looking at a major cap hits. If Rodgers hangs it up in '25, the Jets will have a $49 M cap hit to not have him on the team.

That's really what I was looking at. Rapp is a bruiser, we needed a center fielder. I agree that I think safety is on the docket to draft. The Bills had combine visits from DeJean, Bullock and Bullard, and any of those three sound like they could compete for a starting job and it's not crazy to think they would be available into round 3. I know the Bills don't have a pick there, but with all their 5th rounders, I think they could package one of those 4ths to move it.

I had a lot of time to parse this last season. I don't hate the Jets. Oh, I certainly dislike them, but they haven't done enough to the Bills to make me dislike them the way I will forever hate Tom Brady, Teddy Bruschi and the Hoodie. What I have come to loath is the amount of attention they get because the team is located at the largest media market of the country. The Jets are the little cousin to the Giants in their own city, the longest current playoff drought in the league, and are betting it all on a 41 year old QB coming off of what is a career ending injury to some players. So, of course, they are the favorites.

Again, Simmons is on the market. I would like Blackmon, I am not panicking yet

Hey, analytics tells us that 100% of games are won by the team that had the most points

You pick your depth in rounds 3-5.

When we first signed Poyer! Thanks for pointing that out, I'll fix it

At the top end are Justin Simmons and Jamal Adams, so there is absolutely still a top end of the market. That said, while Simmons and Adams have the better resume (All Pro and Pro Bowls), Simmons is 30 and Adams has an even worse injury history than Blackmon. Blackmon is 25, which makes him about Poyer's age when he first came to Buffalo. Getting him cheap could the the start of another run.

It's hard for me to hate on the possibility of another Eric Wood anchoring the O-line for another decade. I'd prefer WR or S, but we can get decent fits there in rounds 2-3 and a center would let McGovern stay at LG.