thebandit27

Aside from Sammy's first-step prowess, he tracks the deep ball as well as anyone in the NFL.

It's not even close...however it's interesting that you bring up Pettine and Alonso, because I think there's a possibility that either Vallejo or Milano could fill in as a subpackage LB to play the same coverage role that Alonso played in Pettine's D. Those guys don't have the same instincts as Kiko, nor do they appear to be (based on college video) anywhere near as effective against runs/screens as Kiko.

Career YPC: Streater - 13.8 Watkins - 16.1 Matthews - 11.9 Jones (college) - 10.7 It's about more than straight-line speed whilst wearing underwear and running against air.

It's going to take me more time to come to any kind of conclusion on these guys. What I do see, however, is a far different personality profile for McDermott/Beane than Jauron/Levy, so that's a start. The personnel side of things will, hopefully, become clearer after next offseason. What I agree is worrisome is the idea that this duo's "build through the draft" philosophy is going to be boiled down to "fill holes through the draft", which as you (BADOL) and I have discussed numerous times is a poor strategy. Now, it's possible that the accumulation of picks is analytics-driven, and it could follow suit that the utilization of those picks will also be analytics-driven, which would suggest a BPA-based-on-positional-value approach...and that would be a welcomed improvement. Again though, that's speculation at best.

I agree that that's worthy of a mention...good stuff

1. He started all 16 games as a rookie 2. In the only stretch of his career during which he was targeted more than 5 times per game (the final 9 games of the 2015 season), he was the most productive WR in the NFL. 3. The statement about far less at QB is highly debatable.

No, he didn't. He tweaked his ankle and missed a few plays of practice.

I haven't seen that statistic. I do remember specifically him having trouble in the slot against NE, and the lessons that Crabtree and Cooper against Oakland. When talking about a guy that only played a handful of snaps most games (only played more than 15 defensive snaps 3x), I find it most appropriate to look at his largest sample spaces, which would be Cincinnati (40), Oakland (69), and the Jets (60). He seemed to fair well in the Cinci game, but after Gilmore knocked Green from that contest, the whole defense appeared to have things under control, so it's hard to single him out. He got beat for 2 TDs against Oakland, and had some trouble in spots against Charone Peake in the final Jets game. Again, it's just my opinion here.

I did not think Seymour played well at all last year. I'm aware of Wright's struggles, but frankly he's the only boundary corner that both fits the scheme and has experience starting

It's possible he beats Wright for the starting boundary job opposite White. I don't think he's a good enough athlete or tackler to play the slot. Didn't see enough of Baltimore in 2016 to speak in great detail, but for me, Wright is a great fit for what McDermott appears to want. He's the long-limbed, physical type that plays with some aggression. I don't see either Wright or Seymour playing the slot. I mean, it's possible that the coaches feel that Seymour can play there, but to me, I don't see it.

It would mildly surprise me if they don't open the season with White/Wright as the starting boundary guys and Gaines in the slot.

Agreed--except that I'll go ahead and eliminate the part about him seeing significant time. Even if he does, you still would be crazy to pass on a R1 QB in 2018. Don't rely on someone that is unproven at the position, and short of him taking the league by storm and putting together a playoff win or two as a starter in his rookie season, he will be unproven at the NFL level entering 2018. Always have a contingency plan for a franchise QB if you can.

I'm pretty confident that's what Sammy meant--the dude is absolutely shredded (as always).

How is it that you thought so highly of Peterman before the draft but only gave him a high R3 grade?

You disagree that it makes no sense to say that he didn't want to be here when the only on-the-record statements we have from him say, explicitly, that he wants to be here? Because that was my point. Not sure...all I know is that Darby played very well in Rex's D in 2015, and Rex used zone about 50% of the time.

Except, of course, for 2015, in which he lead the entire NFL in yards per target.

You are still missing the point. There's no assumption in taking him at his word; you either believe him or you don't. The assumption is made when someone says that he didn't want to be here, because everything up until now indicates that he does. Everything. If you're looking for undeniable evidence of someone's true feelings, well, that doesn't exist in this plane of reality. So I suppose literally anything anyone ever says is an argument from ignorance under those criteria.

As I've said, I never thought I'd find myself arguing anyone over Jerry Rice, but I can't get away from this one thought: Find me any receiver in history that could do everything that Calvin Johnson could do. Rice was phenomenal, but he never made contested catches against 3 defenders the way Calvin did. Yes, Rice will always go down as the best because he was the most productive for the longest period of time, and I'm fine with that. Like I said, I never thought I'd find myself convinced otherwise. For me, I'll take Calvin in his prime over anyone else I've ever watched.

I don't see how Darby and Gaines is a wash. Darby had one excellent and one sub-par season; Gaines had one good year, one very bad year, and one year he lost completely to injury. No, one statement is taking a quote from him directly, and the other is an assumption. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000822817/article/sammy-watkins-my-goal-is-to-stay-in-buffalo-forever "I love Buffalo," Watkins told the team's official site. "They drafted me first round, fourth pick. My job is to stay here for a while. That's the goal. You don't want to change teams. My job is to stay around here forever. That's the goal." Now, if you want to claim that he wasn't being 100% truthful here you go right ahead, but it's patently untrue that both the "he does" and "he doesn't" statements are assumptions. He said he does, and there's absolutely no reason for him to lie about it. I think he'd probably be just as happy getting his increased target share here. Also, I have no reason to suspect that the trade isn't a blessing in his mind. He wants opportunity, and he's very likely to get it in LA. Both statements can be true.

No, many fans are simply saying that there's no reason to believe that Sammy didn't want to be here. In fact, the only comments he's ever made about his feelings regarding the team are that he wanted to play here is entire career. When I read "well, he didn't want to be here anyway", that's got far, far less supporting evidence behind it than if someone were to say "he did want to be here".

I disagree with that last part; there's zero doubt in my mind that Whaley would've tried to get Sammy under contract.

Scott's point was that the team gave up the position of owning Sammy's rights for 2018-2020 with the use of the 5th year option plus 2 tags. He literally could not have played anywhere else until 2021 unless the Bills allowed him to do so.

That's not correct. Parker wanted Peters to get LT money, whereas the team wanted Peters to play out the extension that they signed him to as a RT. Money was the only issue. It's almost always the only issue. Fans seem to make it about a player not wanting to be here, and I always struggle to understand that.

You hit on my issue with the trades at the very end: why give up players that have proven that they can do the job in the NFL for picks that are total mysteries at this point?

Ok that makes more sense.