thurst44

Don't get me wrong; I love Hughes -- he was a great acquisition and I want him in Buffalo if we have a SB run, and getting his finishing move back in the playoff game might be a good omen. It's just a weird feeling I have that with all the potential 8-12 sack level rushers and Beane's ability to get higher draft picks than one would suspect, that they might consider him expendable. I hope I'm wrong. Again, I also have a bit of a suspicion that they will keep an absurd number of defensive linemen.

Maybe, especially if they need money. However, I would not be surprised if he's more of a lock than people think. Re-watching the season: he was a beast in the last few games. I'd almost suggest Hughes might be on the block if they could get a decent return for him. However, I could also see them keeping 9, or even 10 players technically designated as defensive line and doing a ton of rotating and mixing up formations.

I'd also have to say 1999/2000 is one of them. The way the feel-good season crash landed into the mess with whole Flutie/Johnson divisive nonsense. It stung extra as I had been a Flutie fan since I was a kid and saw the Hail Mary pass and was so overjoyed he had not only come to the Bills but was winning with them, and did not care for Rob Johnson's blase attitude from the beginning. Even if I liked Johnson and hated Flutie, the move would have rubbed me the wrong way, because it just seemed all kinds of football wrong (never be fooled by a game against competition that's not trying). The last thing I want to do is open up that Pandora's Box, but that was my perspective and why it was an especially rough season from my perspective. Then a few weeks later was the cuts of the last remnants of the glory years and it was just salt in the wounds. Also, 2011: I just remember being in a bar in NY's Port Authority the day after the third of their three straight post-5-2 start blowouts, meeting up with a friend who couldn't care less about football. Before my friend arrived, I sat there musing about how it always falls apart for the Bills but had a bit of a joyful epiphany while thinking at least we can follow Fred Jackson's historic season as he was on pace for 1700 yards and well over 2000 from scrimmage at the age of 30 and what a fun underdog story that it was that an undrafted running back who had been through every other minor football league, after a couple training camps, caught on with the Bills and now was one of the best players in the league. What an amazing story. That will at least give this season some purpose. Then a few moments after my friend came in, I looked up at a TV screen tuned to ESPN and "Fred Jackson out for season" came across the crawl, and I just shook my head "Bleep football!"

Can't we just look at this as pretty cool that an UDFA with a high upside was this excited to sign with us.

I get why people are opposed to the pick. He's a player who feasted at a lower level of competition, so how will that translate at the next level (worked out pretty well for McNair). Plus he plays at a very unexciting position. However, first, I agree with what you said about trusting McBeane on these things. I'd posit he might be the best possible pick for a team with no real needs and few depth holes -- a guy who might be a bit of a project, but whose upside is elite. Also, it might be the best landing spot for Dugger as he will have time to get his sealegs beneath him behind Poyer and Hyde, while he also can come in and be a ST beast immediately. If we're picking at 54 and Epenesa or Gross-Matos haven't dropped this far, Dugger is my pick -- he's got huge potential to be a steal at 54 (but he also might not last that long) Ultimately, my preference is to trade up to nab someone if they can get up enough for any of Epenesa, G-M, Jaylon Johnson (who i just love), or Trevon Diggs (simply b/c it would be a great story and i suspect the brothers would be good for each other).

FWIW, Fournette did have almost 1700 total yards last year for a lousy team, and he killed us during his worst season in the pros when we played them in 2018, but then his hotheadedness also arguably gave us the win. All that said, I would not want to give more than a single day three pick for him.

Also, Jim Kelly got a 15 and famously did pretty OK with the mental aspect of quarterbacking. Dan Marino got a 16. Tyrod got a 15 and one could argue its his improvisational acumen on the field which has allowed him to occasionally start in the NFL in spite of lesser talent. In this group, Jerry Jeudy got a 9, and while I know it's not as important for WRs, his college tape immediately impressed me as one of the smarter route runners.

Not sure what lists you are looking at. Other than PFF, he's pretty universally near the top of every top 10 list. He was All-Pro, so that puts him in the Top 2 according to AP, PWFA, and SN Here's the first non-PFF lists I could find: https://www.ranker.com/list/best-cornerbacks-in-nfl-right-now/ranker-nfl https://sports.yahoo.com/nfls-top-10-cornerbacks-2019-203303503.html https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/2019/06/04/the-nfls-11-best-outside-cornerbacks/9/ He was 4th in passes defensed, 2nd in passer rating against, 1st in TDs allowed, 1st in Interceptions. I'm going to say that your lists of "top 10 CB" is not overly scientific.

If you take his first three years in Buffalo, he averaged 1636 total yards and 10 TDs per 16 games (and that's just missing five games).

This is some excellent analysis, but good news as I think we have two more roster spots to fill this year as it's up to 55 players (I could be wrong here)

Singletary had a YPC of 5.4, was a dynamic playmaker, and had he not been hurt would have likely had well over 1000 yards and have been in the RotY conversation. Surely that just came out wrong.

I'm going the other way and they are going to somehow trade all the way back up into the 1st round.

Have you looked at his body? Do you know that it "looks completely broken down"? He might have just had very bad luck. We have five solid cornerbacks before him so I don't see what's the harm in bringing in someone who knows the system and has played in it very well when he's been healthy. If he gets hurt, we're already practically playing with house money.

That's the point though. You're not relying on him. You've got Tre and Norman and Wallace and Neal and Taron Johnson.

I was born in NYC -- the famous "Headless Body Found In Topless Bar" banner headline came a few days before my 10th birthday. The NY Post's rep for bad reporting goes way beyond its politics.

It is true for the current situation, but if he has said so, then we'll see. Beane says a lot of things but actions speak louder than words. Maybe going forward they will be, but as you said yourself it's just not possible right now, and that's a sensible move. We're not very far apart here. I should have probably not been so emphatic and clarified I meant in the current situation, so that's on me.

The conspiracy could just be the existence of comp picks in the first place. I don't think it was a conspiracy, but more of a miscalculation. They were intended to be an equalizer for bad teams, but as it turns out, it's the building teams that by their very nature need to sign new players and often an array of medium-to-good ones as that's what's in free agency, while it's the established, good teams who can afford to shed the most players. Good teams are also more likely to have the 3rd round level players b/c that's part of why they were a good team. As Bills fans, for now, we need to abandon the idea of comp picks, b/c that is just not this administration's philosophy, and I get it (not saying if it's right or wrong). They'd rather pick up a bunch of players in a hope that many succeed b/c they probably have a better hit ratio (as they are established players in the NFL) than late 3rd and 4th round players.

Not really. I like their plan. Last year the idea was to get one borderline pro bowler in Morse to anchor the line, keep Dawkins b/c you know how hard it is to find a reliable LT and then bring in as many bargain guys with upside as you can and a big-time prospect in Ford. The plan accounts for growing pains -- both Ford figuring out the NFL (definitely work-in-progress) and the guys getting into a groove as a unit. They got lucky in having few injuries -- now the 2020 plan is to let the unit grow together. There's incredible value to an O-Line that knows each other and plays together naturally.. So, I aggressively don't want them to focus on bringing in new O-Lineman -- if a major o-lineman drops into the mid-to-late 2nd round, I'd be game, but I think the line-up of Dawkins-Feliciano-Morse-Spain-Ford with Nsehke and Long as the primary backups for the second season in a row is a pretty solid line-up and while they may never be an elite line a la Cowboys or Colts, they could be a strength of the team.

Do they have a second round pick this year and next? That could be a start. Ooooh, and throw in Aaron Donald. /sarcasm(andbadsarcasmatthat)

Pats still have their top 3 defense mostly intact. Miami still has a ton of holes and the two offensive lineman they picked up are a guy who got run out of New York and then had half a solid season in Washington and a meh center from New England (whose weakest point has often been the o-line) and will be playing with Fitz and/or a rookie QB. I don't see it. Some of their moves have been good (love the Jones signing) and they have a ton of draft capital, but it's harder to get from 5 to 10 wins than from 0 to 5.

It's not exactly "quiet." I'd say their moves, if anything, are being regarded too "loudly" Also, at this point, I would say the Bills are better than last season too and still have an absurd amount of money to spend.

They're Redskins-ing. Jones is a legit good pickup (but considering they subtracted two pro bowl CBs, including one who is probably better, it's less impressive), I didn't want to lose Lawson, but he's been hit or miss over the years and is certainly not a gamechanger. Van Noy is a solid contributor but nothing special, Ogbah's name is usually better than his play. It could improve them, but they are still nowhere near our D.

Vikings have been 39-24-1 with him the last four seasons and we have a better roster, so I guess he's more like a 10-6/11-5 type roster starter (if that construct meant anything). Also they still have an absurd amount of money to spend on FA and still have the ability to sign their own guys.

Yes, I figured that first part out and I get that :). My point was about the timing (and i even couched it in 'fwiw') -- that I looked at the page earlier and it wasn't there and then later, when there's a lot of hints he might be back, it appeared. Again, it's possible that I misremember and it was always there, but if it was just put on there, then the timing would seem to be significant.

FWIW, I don't think the caption on his Twitter with the airplane between the two codes was there earlier today, but I could be wrong...