Hapless Bills Fan

As part of the deal, expect the next 2 years to be re-worked This is why I'm fairly confident we won't see a big trade-up that costs us multiple picks this year and next.

Yep

Aaand we have the contract details finally! https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/ryan-bates-29527/ Cap hit this year: $3.5M (less than the $3.98M 2nd round tender) Cap hit next year: $4.5M Guarantees: $2M signing & roster bonus, this year's salary, next year's salary Per Spotrac, Bills cap space remaining after signing Bates $1.09M Unsigned player: Taiwan Jones (will probably not lower free cap too much, since he will displace a player who currently counts against the cap

I'm not even sure what's meant by "enforcer" Do you mean someone who demands accountability from his teammates? Or do you mean someone who does dirty to opponents (at the risk of costly personal fouls)? I'm not sure what you mean.

Correct. Keep in mind the first phase is classroom work and working out. And Stef very much has his own mind about how he trains and works out in the off-season. Now that said ..... with a new OC and new playbook, the classroom work may be of greater importance this year. Stef not being at the initial voluntary offseason workouts will have no impact on Bills draft priorities.

It's not just the foot/ankle injuries - though it's a good call to point out that despite being available for all 16 games in 2020 and all but one last season, Davis was hampered by ankle injuries at the end of last season and according to some members of the Buffalo media, for weeks at the start of this season. (And it's an additional concern that we've signed a #2 TE with a concerning history of ankle injuries) It's the "pipeline". If we're going to be following the "Stars and Jags" model and Diggs is gonna be our star - Davis is entering his 3rd year. If he has a breakout season, we have him for one more year then he's gonna want to "Get Paid". We need a steady pipeline of talent to develop at WR, even if Davis develops titanium ankles himself and is ready to break the ankles of #2 CB

Perhaps I should have asked you to "define what you mean by available CHEAP (my emphasis) in FA" Let's recap exactly what you said: Agreement that these guys are top guards. But the question is, were they available "cheap in UFA"? Brandon Scherff signed a 3 year, $49.5M contract with Jax. That's $16.5M AAV. Whilst he has a manageable cap hit of $7.8M this year, most would not call that contract "cheap". That's the same AAV that JC Jackson signed for, and something like #49 AAV in the league. Joe Thuney signed an 5 year, $80M contract with KC last off season. That's $16M AAV Again, cap hit this year of $8.15, but most people would not call that contract "cheap". It's right next door to Christian McCaffrey and Adam Theilen. Even this year's lower cap hits for these guys would make them top-10 paid players on the Bills (7th and 8th, I believe) Shaq Mason was NOT a free agent - as you note, he was traded. His contract had cap hits of $9.8 and $10.9M last season. Again, what exactly do you mean by "available cheap in UFA"? From the above, I don't think you've given me good examples of "UFA available cheap in UFA". You picked two top guards who were available in FA, and got top guard money, and one guard who was not an UFA.

"Is that Rachel Bush's husband?" LOLOLOLOL No, that's the other guy 😅

Question: Who are the very good guards with no perceived liabilities who are (or were) available cheap in UFA this year? Thanks

Dig, You.

So of course in 2020 there were no preseason games In 2021, he injured his shoulder during practice in mid-August and eventually had season-ending shoulder surgery. I don't remember when the injury occurred, but the Bills first pre-season game was August 13 and Wade didn't play in it. The "die" was pretty well cast at that point

This is really a minor aside, but Rosen's family background of wealth was cited early and often as a dis on him - like coming from wealth he wouldn't work hard enough at football or might walk away. I never heard it expressed as a positive talking point by anyone in the media at any time pre or post draft Actually some people thought better of him for that at the time, but it was remembered to his discredit when he couldn't "walk the walk" and back it up.

In order to play on an NFL football team, it isn't enough to have athleticism and burst out of the backfield. The player has to actually, you know, be able to ....play football. We've done this Over. and Over. and Over again. Wade didn't know how to follow blockers, because blocking isn't a thing in Rugby. He didn't know how to block in pass protection, because QBs and the forward pass aren't a thing in Rugby. It was a valiant attempt to bring him up to speed, but he acknowledged in interviews that he was struggling to learn to block and to read a D and understand his responsibility in pass protection. If he hadn't injured his shoulder last summer, we might have seen him get a shot, but he did and we didn't. Give it a rest.

Say Wat? Rosen was mercilessly criticized and put down in the media for his off-field antics that indicated a certain degree of entitlement (setting up a hot tub in his room) and willingness to be abrasive with his personal political views (wearing a F*** president's name cap). There were also rumors and questions about his intangibles - his leadership in the locker room and abilities to get along with others. Where he was praised, was not for his "social pedigree", but for his actual on-field football performance with St John Bosco (5 star recruit) then with UCLA, where he set records for 300 yd games and at one point, led the nation in various football stats. If his actual football skills and football IQ had translated to the NFL, I'm sure he'd still be criticized and dissected for his off-field deportment, fair or unfair. But they didn't - the day of the relatively immobile pocket passer who can throw beautifully when on-platform, may be done

I think I saw an article about him recently, where he was talking about looking for the next phase of his life and what it would be. This was a month or two ago - so it sounded like he was planning to move on to new endeavors well before this. Edit: here it is. From mid-March: He didn't explicitly say that he was moving on from NFL football, but it mentioned touring as a drummer in April (when OTAs are starting up) and talked about "as I look to move into other things"

Can you really say that Hughes would contribute less than Shaq Lawson, who got traded out of Miami to a bad team in Houston a year after signing his big 2nd contract, then traded again to a worse team, the Jets, 5 months later (and cut before the end of the season)? Or than Epenesa has, to date? The problem is that Lawson is playing for the Bills on a Veteran Salary Benefit deal (he gets minimum and a small bonus, the team gets a lower cap hit) Epenesa is playing on a rookie deal. I don't think Jerry (nor Addison) wants to play for pennies on the dollar.

"With so much exposure" Heh I see what you did

Question: how many LTs in the modern NFL (since changes that enabled the importance of the passing game) have played another OL position and then switched to LT successfully? Jason Peters, whom I believe you like, would be one example (blocking TE to RT to LT) but it seems rare to me. Whereas guys who get drafted to play LT and wind up playing RT or G seem relatively common. Anyway I would like to see the Bills draft IOL and yeah, a backup plan at RT in case Brown doesn't take that step would be good with me; they don't have to be a future LT to make it a reasonable pick somewhere in the early rounds, for me. So probably we agree way more than we disagree here. Just a caveat here that at present, it's not clear we have one stud cover corner. We all hope Tre White had a "small setback for a great comeback" but it's never assured. We desperately need someone besides Dane Jackson! I hope you're right

OK...so you "couch" your take that McDermott doesn't know how to build an offensive unit on the playoff performance of that unit then? Where they played "lights out"? That doesn't make any more sense than your original take about "McCoach" There are a lot of people here heavily critiquing the Bills defense based on failure when we needed it most, so I'm not sure what board you're reading Seems to me these are just bad takes.

How do you mentally square up the contention that McDermott does not know how to build an offensive unit as a HC, with the fact that the Bills offense ranked 2nd and 3rd on PF the last 2 seasons, after the development of their QB and the steady addition of weapons for him at WR and TE? Also, you mention "after the last game". Most people seem to believe that the offense played absolutely lights-out in the last 2 games and especially the last game, and that the defense lost us the game. How do you square that viewpoint (some would call it a fact) with your contention that offense is the problem?

WAAAAAAAAAAY too obvious. "Is your refridgerator running? Better go catch it!"

Hmmmm. Saffold is going into his 12 season at age 34. His strength is run blocking, not pass pro. I like the signing a lot more than some other folks here, and I think he's an upgrade on Williams at G, but he is NOT a long term plan at IOL. Bates is part of an OL of Dawkins-Bates-Morse-Williams-Brown that Beane referred to as "a starting point" in his post-season presser where he said that we need to protect Josh, and that the running game is part of protecting Josh. If that's a "starting point" and Beane thinks swapping Saffold for Williams and switching Bates to the R side is a suitable "end point" to accomplish the "protect Josh, improve the run game" goal, he's not who we think he is as GM and he's not sincere about meeting those goals. I'm not saying that 1st round OL is the way to go, but we need a high draft pick (round 1-3) on OL and probably a late pick as well. Boettger may not come back the same from his Achilles, especially early in the season. Mancz is a 4-team journeyman signed as depth.

Except for the bunch of us who beat the drum that we shouldn't neglect the offense, you mean?

I'm thinking we may be able to class TO as one of the reported 75% of NFL players who are broke within years of leaving football?