thebandit27

I was shocked that they didn't try to move Bodine to NO when Unger retired. I mean, maybe they did, but that seemed an easy-pickens situation. I think it makes a lot of sense to hold onto Bodine until the final roster cut-down. If a contender loses a center, he's easily going to be the best option for them: 5-year starter that you can pick up for $2.3M against the cap? Gotta be worth a day 3 pick, right? Vlad and Sirles are probably much less desirable. I think the other guy that could bring a decent return would be Teller. He had a few decent performances at LG last year, and he's moldable clay in the right system.

Priority numero uno is making sure that your young QB has every possible piece around him to develop into a franchise QB. Ergo, Julio is the easy answer.

Nsekhe is the 42nd tackle in terms of AAV. If there are 64 starters, then yes, that's starter money.

Long was signed at a time when the team couldn't guarantee that they'd get a starting C in free agency. He got very little guaranteed money, so I wouldn't be assured that he's going to start. I also wouldn't say that he excelled at guard. He was good, but not the player that Spain was in 2016 or 2017. Don't get me wrong, I'll be fine if Long beats out all of Spain, Teller, Feliciano, and Boettger for the RG job. Hopefully it means that he earned it and wasn't simply the lesser of all evils.

He's 42nd in terms of AAV. That puts him squarely in the starter-salary category next to Bobby Hart and Demar Dotson, both of whom started 16 games in 2018.

Well, I'm treating the two areas as mutually-exclusive. Had there been an avenue to improve both the OL and the WR group in massive ways this offseason, I feel pretty confident they'd have done so. As it stands, I think they did a solid job of giving themselves good odds at having sufficient OL to support their offense. In general, I don't really worry about the logistics of improving the OL so much since there's almost always good players available. I mean, just this offseason a guy that was one year removed from being the best guard in football got traded for less than a 7th round pick. I just wonder how they're going to fit all of Brees, Thomas, Peat, Apple, and Bell, plus their 2019 and 2020 draft picks, under the cap. As it stands today, they'll probably be about $75M under, but once Brees gets his pound of flesh, that number will be cut by 40%.

Oh wow! You mean you called it a whole 2 months ahead? I'm amazed. Try this: That'd be a whole 11-1/2 months ahead on Mayfield... Should I be revered for that? No...the point is that we've all made good calls every now and again (some more than others); you don't need to start a thread about it.

There hasn't been an offseason in recent memory that was as primed for adding WRs as the 2020 offseason Any chance that NO is going to let Michael Thomas walk?

I don't think that moving Dawkins is as much about his play at tackle (though he admittedly regressed in year 2) as it is how great a fit he could be at guard. It also has been spurred on a bit by the fact that they signed a player that has had success at LT to starting-tackle money. Personally, I want the best combination of 5, and I don't care who plays where. If I had to guess, the best combo of 5 will look like one of the following 2 line-ups: LT: Nsekhe LG: Dawkins ? Morse RG: Spain RT: Ford OR LT: Dawkins LG: Spain ? Morse RG: Ford RT: Nsekhe

I agree that there's enough skill-specific volume in the WR group to allow Allen to develop significantly in year 2. I don't think (and I'm assuming that you don't either) that there's enough wow-type talent to put him in the top-tier unless he really unlocks every ounce of his potential, but yeah, next year is a really, really good opportunity to add a legit WR1 (hopefully more than one). How much would you love to sign J. Clowney and Michael Thomas in free agency and then draft Henry Ruggs?

While I'm over here drooling over the 2020 draft WR crop, has anyone else looked at the list of WRs that are scheduled to be UFAs in 2020? Oh. My. Word. AJ Green Amari Cooper Julian Edelman Robby Anderson Josh Gordon Michael Thomas Tyler Boyd (and Tyreek Hill, but I have a feeling nobody is going to want to touch him, especially McDermott and Co.)

Penalties hurt, but they hurt the most when your team can't overcome them by making plays. I mean, the Chiefs lead the league in penalty flags against per game by a significant margin, but it didn't hurt them much because they can make plays. Discipline is good, playmaking is better, but both is best.

It's an interesting case study IMO. I noticed that Belichick's plan for the Rams in the Super Bowl was to hit them hard, and hit them often. That's a serious departure from what most NFL teams are doing these days; trying to get smaller, faster, and more opportunistic. Instead, Belichick went big. Hitting the Rams' receivers off the line and taking the wood to Jared Goff whenever possible. Then what does he do this offseason? Trades fo a much-larger-than-average DE in Michael Bennett, signs 333-lb Mike Pennel and 320-lb David Parry in free agency, and spends 2 of his first 3 draft picks on a 6'4" corner and a 255-lb linebacker. Classic Belichick: the rest of the league is going pass-happy, so he goes full-on run-first and wins a Super Bowl. The rest of the league gets small/fast on defense to combat the pass-happiness, while he's getting bigger and more physical on defense.

It's a good observation, and yes, he definitely had issues in the Miami game. I attributed the first Zay Jones TD to the idea that he might've been trying to make a safe throw away from the breaking DB, but overall he still had some issues with placement on slants. It's not so much about ability to be accurate, but a continuation of a theme I hammered on during my draft evaluation: he loses significant placement ability when he rushes his outside throws. When it comes to throwing inside the numbers, he seems to be able to speed up his process without losing much precision. I believe it's a correctable issue, but definitely something to keep an eye on.

I tend to think that yards per play is a better metric than yards per game, and in that regard, Buffalo was very good. They weren't, however, very good at forcing turnovers or preventing scores in the red zone. In fact, they had the 3rd-highest percentage of TDs allowed per red zone trip.

I think they're banking more on the idea that their hand-picked QB can raise the level of play of a rather mediocre group of WRs, each of whom have a single thing that they do pretty well. And that's not necessarily wrong per se, but I'm a much bigger fan of the Rams/Chiefs approach that says "stack the roster with ridiculously talented pass catchers and give my QB the best chance I can"

Call me back when he nails who should be the #1 overall pick correctly 10 months in advance. There was some really, really sharp (and good looking) poster that was all over Patrick Mahomes in June of 2016... ...just wish I could remember who

I really doubt that any of the team's current EDGE guys will be here next year. Not when you look at the market and see names like Clowney, Fowler, Mercilus, Dupree, Ngakoue, and Beasley all currently slated to hit the open market. Add to that the fact that there will be EDGE guys with enormous, untenable base salaries like Von Miller, Melvin Ingram, Chandler Jones, Calais Campbell, Everson Griffen, and JPP. I mean, maybe they re-sign Jerry to a 2-year deal and still chase a pass rusher in FA, but I can envision them wanting to get MUCH younger at the position.

The 2020 WR class looks absolutely loaded. CeeDee Lamb looks like a stud. Henry Ruggs is 2020's version of Tyreek Hill without the off-field crappola, and his teammate Jerry Jeudy is a machine. Tylan Wallace is a true deep threat. Then you've got some other intriguing guys like Tee Higgins, Laviska Shenault, Jaelen Reagor, and KJ Hill.

Agreed--as I mentioned in my edit, I wouldn't pick up his option year. I was more speaking to the idea that picking up the option doesn't tie the team into anything unless there's an injury. I still think there's an Adrian Clayborn-type player in Shaq if he gets his poop in a group; this would be the year to do it too.

The only place that I disagree with you is that I believe you can pull the option year prior to the start of the league year and get off scot-free. Is that right? EDIT: apparently yes... https://frontofficenfl.com/2017/03/27/nfl-rookie-contracts-explained-fifth-year-option/ "When a team exercises the option, it becomes guaranteed for injury only. If the player is on the team’s roster at the start of the League Year in his option season, his salary becomes fully guaranteed for skill, cap and injury." Now I agree that I would not pick up his option and use it to motivate him to get the best out of him. If, however, you had a player for which motivation wasn't the reason to not pick up the option, then I would definitely pick it up with the intention of pulling it prior to the start of the next league year if you aren't happy with the player.

Vosean can play Sub-package LB that can float and pursue. Has some upside as a Will

So people are losing their minds because Buffalo didn't pick a WR that went 100th overall? I mean, I've done similar things (Elvis Dumervil), but at least he was dominant in college. Apparently getting mad about DK didn't satisfy

Trade em all to move back into round 4 and get Emanuel Hall.

I'll be shocked if Fitzy doesn't start week 1