Thurman#1

Yup, you did indeed have it fly right over your head. That may have been the saddest attempt at a comparison I've ever seen.

Still a rookie at age 28, hunh? Yeah, um, that's a pretty bad observation, in every way. And another real swift take when you say that the DLs in front of him weren't good enough. I mean, all he had in front of him was a much younger Ndamakong Suh that year when he played great. Yeah, I'll bet the Rams were crying in their beer all the time saying, "Boy, if we could only get a good 1-tech ahead of Littleton. I mean we only had Suh. If only we could've traded for Lotulelei. Yeah, great comparison. Swift as a glued-down turtle. You can see why the Rams let him go. Their defense was 20th and 17th with him. I mean, it isn't like he made two Pro Bowls. Why wouldn't they look to upgrade the defense. It ain't as if he was the captain of one of the best defenses in football three years in a row.

Wouldn't be surprised to see two in the draft, an end and a slot guy.

Nice post. We should also try for more sunny days. And no pineapple on pizza. All excellent points. Man, do I remember him as a ferociously destructive force in his young days. That's not him anymore, though.

So, to translate, "Wah, wah, wah." Is that what you're saying? OK, got it.

The value of your draft pick on your future contracts pretty much disappears when you report to training camp. After that, you're judged on your NFL film, performance and value to the team. I agree Phillips will be paid quite a bit higher. I disagree on the reason. And I think the Bills do too. Zimmer's never played more than 43% of the snaps in the games he was healthy. Phillips 55%. That's significant. They like him more.

The Saints continuous botching of their cap resulted in them having a year after year top three QB and a top five coach and only managing one title out of it. A couple of years back, pre-Covid, they wanted to bring in Clowney, but the cap stopped them. It's an interesting story. If they'd been in better cap shape it wouldn't have been a problem. Yes, you CAN always work the salary cap. But it absolutely tends to mean you kick more and more cans down the road and you end up bringing in some guys but at the cost of being forced to make some moves and not being able to make others that you otherwise could have managed. Yeah, I could absolutely get myself a new Ferrari, if I put it on the credit cards. I could. Doesn't mean it would be a smart move. And if he were good, the Bills would place a high tender on him because he'd be worth it. If they undervalued him, a team would swoop in with an offer sheet. Then next year he'd be making the big bucks. Think that'll happen? Harry is likely to earn an awful lot more than Zimmer, and not just for this year. And I like Zimmer, don't get me wrong. He's a pretty solid guy but he's been getting paid pretty much his market value.

The Saints continuous botching of their cap resulted in them having a year after year top three QB and a top five coach and only managing one title out of it. Yes, you CAN always work the salary cap. But it absolutely tends to mean you kick more and more cans down the road and you end up bringing in some guys but at the cost of being forced to make some moves and not being able to make others that you otherwise could have managed. Yeah, I could absolutely get myself a new Ferrari, if I put it on the credit cards. I could. Doesn't mean it would be a smart move.

The Saints continuous botching of their cap resulted in them having a year after year top three QB and a top five coach and only managing one title out of it. Yes, you CAN always work the salary cap. But it absolutely tends to mean you kick more and more cans down the road and you end up bringing in some guys but at the cost of being forced to make some moves and not being able to make others that you otherwise could have managed. Yeah, I could absolutely get myself a new Ferrari, if I put it on the credit cards. I could. Doesn't mean it would be a smart move.

Putting together a top five roster two years in a row already says an awful lot about Beane's acumen in player acquisitions, I think. Nobody's perfect, but he's damn good.

I'd love to get him back. Saw an estimate recently he will get a contract for somewhere near $24M for three years. That's pretty close to the threshold for me. The price they have to pay might have a lot to do with whether we get him back. I would guess they want him pretty bad, but there will be some limit in Beane's mind. Zimmer played well, but not as well as Harry did for half a year before his injury and after he finally got over the injury around halfway through last season. Both are FAs. Pretty sure the contracts each gets will show that the league agrees with me on that.

That's an excellent proof that STs matter. They win and lose games, sometimes important ones. They didn't lose that because they paid the STs guys too much. They lost because (it sure looks like) the STs coach made a mistake. And he's gone now.

Tyler Matakevich? You mean the STs guy who made the game-turning play against the Pats on STs, recovering that surprise onside kick? That guy? Yeah, well, OK, I guess.

Being conservative economically is the smartest way to get a title. All you have to do is look at how many financially conservative teams won Lombardis compared to the number of teams that kicked a ton of cans down the road and won Lombardis. Far more conservative teams do it. And when you have a young top three QB, kicking cans down the road makes even less sense. We have a very long window of being really competitive ahead of us. You're right, "shoe-horning their system around inferior players] isn't what Beane does. There are very few inferior players on this roster. Beane certainly is no fool. Expect him to kick a few cans down the road. He's always done that. But not many. He's never done that, nor should he.

Yeah, it was all the defense and coaching. Losing to the Jags this year because the offense could only score 6 points against that powerhouse Jags D, and therefore setting the KC playoff game at Arrowhead ... that didn't have anything to do with it.

Thought it was worth repeating what was said on the the Bears - Steelers broadcast with 13:34 on the clock in the 3rd quarter. Announcer: "[Najee] Harris has taken a lot of punishment this season. Doesn't seem to mind the contact. He actually told us he likes to get hit." Color Man: "And he's taken some big hits, Jamal Adams for the Seahawks got him, Edmunds for the Bills got him one time, he said that was the hardest one he took." That doesn't mean slobberknocking is a big part of his game. It's not. But he's done it when he gets the opportunity.

Did Barmore go sooner than predicted when the Pats got him at #38, first DT drafted last year? ??? You don't want to go first class?

No, but he was an awful pick even if you ignore him hating Buffalo. Entirely missed the first year, long career, made two Pro Bowls. Career 4.0 per carry avg, and slightly below that with the Bills. He didn't have a bad career overall, but he was never any good compared to what he'd been in college, and for a guy picked in the first round at #23, you want more. That was a bad pick. I'm not against Williams. If he recovers, it could be a great pick. If he re-injures an ACL at some point, and the article points out re-injury rates are somewhat concerning, it would be bad for the Bills. I see justification for positive and negative arguments. I might lean towards picking him if he's there, but that could be a big mistake. Yeah, but as you say, Thurman fell to the 2nd. Jameson won't, or at least not anywhere near the Bills 2nd round pick, I think.

Davis won't be in on passing downs. Running downs are important too. Beyond that, some big space eaters do indeed get doubled on pass downs. Depends a lot on how good they are at compressing the pocket. I don't think that's as obvious as many think, though certainly very possible. He's not a scheme fit for everyone, and outside the medicals and the interviews, the combine has a lot more impact for the fans than for the teams.

He was for a couple of years. The team played visibly worse when they took him off the field. But last year he absolutely got worse.

If he's our #2 then we need a #3. I mean, who's our #3 assuming Sanders is gone? Kumerow if we bring him back? Hodgins? Marquez Stevenson? You don't want those guys seeing more than a very few snaps unless one of them makes a huge leap, and you can't count on that. No way to be sure either way but a WR pickup spending roughly Sanders money in FA or highish in the draft (on top of some move to bring in a slot guy) is very likely. These rumors aren't denigrating Davis. He is doing a great job and is indeed improving a lot. It won't matter who is the #2 or #3. Davis looks to be a very good one.

I'm not against that. I'm not saying Davis or bust! If they can find somebody who can do it later, I'd be thrilled. I haven't gone deep on space eaters. But while Simmons is really good, he's not a space eater. He's not even a DT at this point, though he could be. But more of a penetrator, and not really a consistent two-gapper. And that's what the Bills need. IMO Davis is going to be very good at that. But I'm not pounding the table for him or anything. I think we do need a two-gapper there. I have a general idea Davis is going to be a good one, but I could definitely be wrong. If the Bills want someone else, I'm fine with that.

Personally, Wagner looks to me like he has lost a half step. But assume he hasn't. Would that mean he won't by opening day? As for Muma, I think he could easily become the next Preston Brown. There could maybe be a guy there with the traits that the Bills look for. Maybe. But maybe not. IMO Muma isn't the guy.

Basing a decision only on getting past the Chiefs is nuts. Doesn't make any sense. If we'd been better at stopping the run against Indy or Tennessee or the first Pats game we win one more game and play the Chiefs at home and drastically improve our chances without changing anything else. You bring in people who will make you a better team. Beyond that, it ain't as if the Chiefs never run. They do. If Jordan Davis crunches up a run and changes a 3rd and 4 to a 3rd and 7, he's improving our chances against the Chiefs.

Yes they are out and doing their mental gymnastics. You're an excellent example.