Thurman#1

No, it comes out of Terry's pocket. Over the next ten or twenty years, some or much may well be made up by the consumers, but in a city with an economy like Buffalo's, you can't just raise the prices as much as you feel like and be sure they'll sell, you just can't. And whatever the amount they feel they can raise prices, they'd probably have done so anyway, even if they hadn't been the ones having to pony up that $500M. This will absolutely hit Terry in the wallet. Could it have been avoided? Not really clear, but it still will hurt.

What's "mote responsibility"?

From what I've seen, the mentions dropped off when the pads came on. I'd love to see him start getting more mentions.

They do. Same as a guy who's in serious debt can usually get a new credit card from some desperate bank. You can do it. But it's not generally nearly as good an idea as it looks at first glance. Again, Spotrac has us at $41M ABOVE the cap next year (28th) in 2024. Overthecap has us in much better shape, only $25M ABOVE the cap (28th). In case of emergency, they might do this. Short of that, they appear unwilling. Wisely.

No real connection there beyond one in your mind. Early vs. late rounder, offense vs. defense, skill position vs. line, never showed likelihood he'd start when the line rounded into shape here vs. right in the battle for a starting role, guy who seemed maybe possibly tradeable in his second year vs. a guy who won't be traded in his second year ... As for Chris saying run support is the problem, did he say he got that from anyone who knows? I'm sure it's a factor for any CB, but a relatively minor one. It'll be 80% their ability to trust him not to make mistakes in the pass game, or lack of said trust. I'll gladly admit I was wrong if Chris says he has a specific source for this. Doesn't have to name him, just say he has a source, with a link to him saying that.

Exactly, Doc. Yeah, wish we were one of those teams that draft perfectly, correctly selecting the best possible player at every spot year after year, decade after decade, without every making a wrong move. Fans have had some good thoughts, moments where we/they did know better than Beane, on guys like Creed Humphries and such. But they forget so easily the times tables were pounded into splinters on these forums for guys like Ertz, Owusu-Koromoah and Jalen Raegor. And Andy Isabella. I liked Isabella too, and so far that doesn't show great judgment on my part. I also loved Terry McLaurin, (and had never heard of Dawson Knox) but that's the thing, nobody's perfect. Ain't a GM in the world that doesn't make significant numbers of mistakes, and there are no exceptions. There are also few GMs that have put together winning percentages like this edition of the Bills has for the last three years. Beane is damn good at his job. 😄 I know what you mean, drives me nuts. I just spent about two minutes on Owusu-Koromoah, trying to reject it's helpfulness.

The thing is, he hasn't been a terrible starting tackle every year. That's way overstating it. When healthy he's had some times when he was pretty damn solid. And as a first year guy and a second-year guy with a back injury, particularly a guy with limited time in college, that's really good. He's looked bad and he's looked good. Both. But he has had those time when he's been able to do the job pretty well. If the injury doesn't hold him back it looks like he's got a really good chance to be good. If it does hold him back particularly in the long term, not so much. Tom Hortons?

Doesn't necessarily have to be the same injury. If it is, that is not good. Very not good.

Yeah, this makes sense as a possibility. And John from Riverside also has a good point there. It looks different indeed.

I want you to be wrong too. I'm not convinced you are yet, but there's absolutely a chance. He's not too small. But is he good enough? And that some guys look more muscular doesn't mean they are. It can be bone structure, genes, skin tightness, whatever. Williams didn't do the bench press at the combine, but Bernard did. He was 7th best of all LBs that year, with 22 reps. That's strong, strong enough.

Are unpadded practices less indicative? Yeah, fair enough, very fair. But there really have been a bunch of folks saying that in those unpadded practices he's been very good. You're right that people also are now saying that in that first padded day he had some problems. All reports are worth listening to. It's a little early to know what's happening consistently and what's exceptional. But there have been a bunch of good reports, particularly from Cover1 but a bunch of others as well. But yeah, the bad ones also count. Just that up till I wrote that , things had been really positive. And yeah, hopefully it will make a difference. We didn't get an apparent guy to take over if he has problems, so it'll be really important if he does well. Or doesn't, really.

Bernard was 224 at the combine and they said in camp last year he'd put on another couple of pounds. Dunno if he kept it on, obviously, but that's roughly 10 pounds of muscle in difference. Which just isn't all that much. Fred Warner is 230. As I said, he's on the small side but not by a ton.

Yup. Good riddance to an excellent player is precisely sour grapes. Kid yourself if you want, but even if you didn't want him back, they did. They made it clear over and over again. Salary cap thing. They're going to have a worse player there this year. Hopefully not too much worse. But worse by a significant margin unless things change a lot.

Yeah. And from what I've read, he was coming from behind, which meant that as he looked at the ball, Josh would have been entirely out of his field of vision as Taron closed ground. They are saying that at the last instant he tried to back off but it was too late. If you want guys to play fast, and you send a QB out on a pass play, stuff like this will happen. You wish it didn't happen on the first rep, though. In any case, Josh appears fine.

It really is NOT. The $18M AAV contract is the reason we let him walk. They've made it abundantly clear, over and over and over again, that they loved Tremaine, they wanted him back, and they couldn't afford it and stay in decent cap shape. Who says we are worse at MLB? Everyone. Hopefully the new guys will step up, though, as they see time and reps. Nobody thought around the league Edmunds was a pariah and a weak point. It was only a group of folks here in Buffalo who mostly wanted someone more like Brandon Spikes. You're right that things could change, but right now it absolutely looks like we're worse off there. That's no hot take or knee jerk reaction. Oh, and Milano was in no way whatsoever considered a JAG before he got his contract. He's been excellent really since the middle of year two.

Times have changed. If you're looking at today's LBs, he doesn't stand out. A smidge on the small side, maybe, but fits fine. If you're looking through memory lane then yeah, they used to be bigger back then, fair enough. Roquan is 6'1 236, just as a f'rinstance. Kuechly was 238.

Hey, man, support Billy!! Guy must need an I.V. every day in this brutal heat. Hell of a hard job at camp.

Sour grapes. He's worth what he got. We just didn't have the cash to pay him now. Hap, you're on fire today. Thanks so much for combing through this stuff and posting it here. Love it, love it, love it. Great work, and again, thanks, to all of you folks doing this. I'm working my way through the thread page by page and am really appreciating all the extra input from so many eyes.

It's a lot harder for a DB than a DL. The rusher is staring at the QB, shirt included. Didn't see the play, but the DB is supposed to be watching the ball, and might easily miss the shirt. Just sayin'. Again, I didn't see the play.

Spencer Brown by all accounts has looked really good this year. It's early, and this is the first day in pads, but he was injured last year. Let's at least give him a clean slate and see how it goes.

From the reports I've seen, he hasn't shonw he's more capable than Bates on the right. But he's shown he's capable of being in a legit competition. Which this early is indeed good news.

Almost certainly not. And you bring in Isabella the same reason you take a flier on any player. You hope he's an upgrade on someone, especially so cheap. You never say never, but below 1% chance, IMO. What? Yes, about the big dropoff after Diggs, but no, they're not interchangeable after that, far from it. Gabe was headed for around 1100 yards last season till Gabe's leg injury and Josh's arm problem. There's nothing interchangeable about it, unless you count Kincaid as a WR. Nobody but Kincaid (who hopefully will soon end up on a tier above Gabe) is on Gabe's tier.

Don't have to imagine. He's done it. Diggs. Kincaid. Gabe was headed for a thousand yards last year before the injury. Plenty of others ready to fill in the gaps as well. He doesn't "have to" bring in Isabella. It's a move with no downside (Think they gave him a signing bonus or guaranteed money? The Ravens didn't last year.) with a chance of paying off significantly.

Smooth move by Mac forging ties with the owner. Smart.

That's very very optimistic and early. The fact that it doesn't seem outside the bounds of possibility is really exciting.