Magox

Offer a 4th and see if they bite.

I'd take him in a heart beat. Looking at his 3.9 YPC is like looking at Hughes single digit sack stats or looking at Josh Allen's 53% completion rate. It's misleading and doesn't tell the whole story of their terrible run blocking. The dude is nimble for his size, good balance and power and can take it to the house and he's not a bad receiver either. But I doubt they will cut him even though he is on very shaky ground.

Some people seem to believe this wouldn't fit Beane's M.O. I don't think that is clear and if you pick up what Beane says in his interviews, when you read in-between-the-lines it's clear that he values the "premium" positions. He absolutely believes pass rushers fit that bill and I would bet dollars to donuts that he is looking into Clark. Clark is a high end young pass rusher and if the Bills were to lock him up you would secure a key piece to the defensive puzzle for a number of years. Swap 1'st and add a 3rd and I think Seattle pulls the trigger. They have to lock up R. Wilson and I think they are open to looking at offers for Clark.

Sounds like he may have that sort of cockiness. You hate him as an opponent but you love that sort of dude on your team.

I am floored that this is the sort of deal he received. I would imagine that he will be playing with a huge chip on his shoulder ready and more motivated about playing good football than any time in his career knowing that there could end up being a big pay day at the end of the season.

I do not like Rashan Gary as my #9 overall pick. He certainly has the pedigree and athleticism but the production simply isn't there. With that said, if there is something that Beane/McD see in him and they believe they could make him into a good player, I trust their player evaluations specially on the defensive side. I like Arcega, great production, route running ability, hands, 50/50 ability and instincts. I question his ability to get good separation but for a third rounder, I think he'd be a solid pick. The Bills I do believe are going to look for someone with some size at the WR postion this year through the draft and he's certainly an option.

Great highlights. Without reading the article or knowing anything about the guy. I'd venture to guess he could have some sort of a future as a RB/special teamer.

This is what I was saying in the other thread. He deserves to get a nice 3 year contract. DE's still can get after the QB at that age. Gotta retain him unless somehow we get other people to replace his production which wont be easy.

Lawrence is getting $21M a year with a 5 Year contract with over 65m guaranteed. If Hughes has another good year he will get around a 3 year 44M with around 29m guaranteed. Hes worth around 25-30% less than Lawrence. Doesnt get as many sacks but is better against the run and gets more pressures than Lawrence.

Looking at just his sack count is as vapid as purely looking at Josh Allen's completion %. Hughes has been among the league leaders in pressures and PFF rankings the past few years and has been invaluable to this team. Replacing his value and production wont be easy and having him gone without a comparable disruptive player as he would be disastrous for this defense. Which is why they need to get another good pass pressure specialist ASAP.

I think this pushes Hughes up to around $14-$16M a year. I was hoping we'd get him between $12M-$14M. I don't think that is likely any longer.

The criticism of Nsekhe seems very off-base. I don't have a problem with people who disagree with some of my conclusions but the reasoning to has to have some basis. He pretty much believes that Nsekhe is a garbage 33 year old player, therefore $5 Million a year for him is a stupid decision. I suppose Nsekhe's very impressive body of work over the past 2 years and his dominant performance over one of the premier defensive players in Clowney was a fluke. There is no other way to slice it than come up with that conclusion. I vehemently disagree with the notion that a player can have over 400 snaps last year and 300 the year before with a very high grade is a fluke. A fluke is something that happens a handfull of times. Or maybe a game or two when the opponent either was not at 100% or a weaker opponent. But this wasn't the case. And even if Nsekhe doesn't pan out, I don't believe anyone honestly believes that Buffalo believes he is the long-term solution. He is a guy that if he happens to play a good 2-3 years of football similar to what he did the past 2 years that would end up being an incredible bargain at just $ 5 million a year. And if he doesn't work out well, then they can cut him next year with a low dead cap hit of $1.5 Million. I am 99% sure that signing Nsekhe means that they are going to close the door on drafting a Tackle. These signings that the Bills have made basically allowed them to not have as an immediate need for 2019 at the position but won't prevent them from looking for the long-term answer. That's not to say they will draft a tackle but the Nsekhe signing just makes the position more stable. The Kevin Johnson signing is another one where this guy simply doesn't get it. It's not as if the Bills have put lots of guaranteed money on the line. Johnson showed early in his career that he is able to play a good level and he does have 1st round pedigree talent. Yes, he's been injured and I wouldn't be surprised at all if he flames out. And if he doesn't work out they can cut him next year with no ramifications. It's not as if the Bills are up against the cap this year, they had the money to take a flyer on him. If this guy lives up to his potential then it ends up being a phenomenal signing. And it's clear that he doesn't like "little" receivers. Does he not understand the concept of speed and creating separation? Again, this is another case that he doesn't like the players. He must believe that Beasley is an overrated slot receiver. And who is to say the Bills won't draft a WR. I firmly believe that they will draft one this year. Brown is a potentially a keeper but he may not end up being a fit for this team. I believe Beane feels the same way. Zay is a player that I don't believe they are 100% sold on. Foster I'm willing to bet they are excited about but again, not 100% sure whether or not they believe he can improve from last year. Out of all the WR's, Beasley is probably the one they feel most solid about. What receivers did he want them to go after? Did he believe Tyrell Williams at $11 Million a year was the better decision for them? Maybe, maybe not. Aside from him, what other options were there? It's not that I disagree with the conclusion, it's his thought process in how got to it that doesn't make any sense.

Obviously it's too early to tell. With that said, I would like to give a few grades in a few areas that I view as pivotal in determining success from a GM standpoint: Organization From my view, in order for you to be a successful GM you have to have an organized approach to how you conduct your affairs. From everything that I have read and observed over the past couple years, Beane is extremely meticulous, calculating and organized in how he approaches this football team. He methodically structures contracts in a certain manner that allows him flexibility to retain or dump them based on player performance. Unlike what another poster earlier mentioned, anyone cannot just cut players to dump salary space and remain competitive. The fact that he was able to clear lots of cap space and shed talent along the way that were unpopular in some corners of Bills fans to still be able to compete and have full confidence of the players and the organization and a very very hopeful Bills fanbase is a testament to his competence. Grade: A Vision What I have observed, there is a clear concise vision on how Beane wants to construct this team. There are many fans who simply do not understand the concept of "culture" and "process". These fans for the most part I would venture to guess have never been a part of an organization or program that has had enduring success. I don't want to come off as some know-it-all but I have come from a sports program that has been successful for 3 decades now. And we clearly had a culture and there clearly was a process and method to how this program maintains its elite level status. Beane, knows what sort of players he wants. He has said that they want to build a "Bully" for the offensive line. They clearly are attempting to do that. Beane said his number one priority was to get a franchise QB. He made lots of shrewd trades and did everything possible within reason to get his guy, and sure enough in his first draft at the helm he got his guy. Beane has intimated that they don't want certain sort of character type of players and he has gotten rid of players with these character issues. They were very unpopular decisions but it wasn't just the character he was looking at, he also looked at their production. It's one thing to have a guy with some character issues that is playing at a pro bowl level, it's another to have an over priced character issue player that is not playing up to their capabilities. Most importantly, he was able to sell his vision to ownership. This is something that most people don't understand how valuable and key that is to being successful in management. If you are a manger who doesn't have the full confidence of ownership to carry out your plan, then guess what? That means you don't have the resources necessary to carry out your vision of plans. Whaley, right or wrong was not able to sell his vision to the Pegulas and basically was a hobbled GM who basically was the head talent evaluator of the team. Beane has full confidence of the Pegulas, therefore he and McD have basically full control of the team. Grade: A Surrounding yourself with Talent: As soon as Beane was hired he was able to poach high level scouting talent. Brian Gaine has gone on to be GM of the Texans and now Beane was able to poach Dan Morgan from the Seahawks who many believe is a surefire future GM. There are others as well. Grade: A Talent Evaluations: This is arguably the most important trait. Its early on now to make a full evaluation on this but it's so far been decent with a few misses. KB was a miss, Star is over priced for his role and Murphy is ok but is often-injured. But they certainly got some good players in the draft last year, the biggest one of them all is Josh Allen, Tremaine, Harrison Phillips, Taron and Foster. And now that they finally have money, they have some promising players that should help the offense. But they have to play the game before we make that evaluation and even though Allen, Edmunds, Foster etc have shown promise there is more that needs to be seen. Grade: Incomplete

Bills still need: Guard Tackle WR TE RB DT DE LB Even though with some of these positions there isn't a dire immediate pressing need, within a year or two they will be. Plenty of positions that still need to be addressed, they don't necessarily all have to be done this year but I would suspect that we use draft picks on most of those in this coming draft. I think we will be trading up multiple times this draft to hone in on some of the players they identify as potential down-the-road if not immediate starters.

I don't believe we go WR with our first pick. But I am almost certain that with this deep draft of WR's that we will go with one somewhere between rounds 2-4.

A one year deal. Which basically means he's auditioning to become the long-term starter for a lucrative long-term contract. What I specially like about Beane's approach to FA is that he hasn't committed to long-term money on many of the players he has brought on. Meaning that he fully understands that some of the guys won't pan out and that they can easily be let go within a year or two. Meanwhile, he will find some long-term pieces along the way through FA and truly build the core of this team through the draft. I have said for a long while now that there is a clear method and ORGANIZED process to his decision making. Whaley was more of a shoot-from-the-hip sort of GM who had a pretty good eye for talent. But really didn't have a well-thought-out vision for the team and equally important wasn't able to sell his vision to Pegula. Part of being a good GM is not just the capacity of their talents but the ability to sell your vision to ownership. That goes for any GM for any company. Without being able to sell your vision, the resources, leash and confidence to carry through with your plans become diminished. I have said over and over that one of the things that I admire about Beane aside from his methodical organized style and vision for this team is his moxy to make unpopular decisions to build the team he believes he needs to have a successful organization. There is no better way to succeed or fail than to do it your way. At least that way you know you were able to do it your way and if it failed there is no one to blame but yourself. With Whaley, admittedly he was hobbled by not having the control necessary to have more decision making power. In any case, we'll see how these FA signings pan out. There is definitely a case for optimism that we are on the right track. And it could turn out that the picks don't pan out like KB who the board almost universally loved. At the end of day what is just as important if not more so than carrying out a clear vision in a methodical organized fashion is player evaluation. I'm optimistic, I just truly believe that we are in better position than any time post Jim Kelly.

Rashan Gary is one of the people I hope that we do not draft and same goes with DK Metcalf. with a first round draft choice I prefer people with a history of good production in college. These guys are tremendously gifted from an athletic standpoint but I just question why they weren't able to produce at a higher level in college. That's not to say they won't be really good pros just that I think with the talent around them in college I'm concerned that they didn't produce better numbers.

Brown OJ Barry sanders Eric Dickerson (in his best 5 years) Walter Payton

Pass Rush

Separation is not just about speed. I'm only judging it based off the highlight reels that I've seen so I certainly could be wrong but that was one of my takeaways from what I observed.

Both! Hughes to a 3 year deal worth around $38m with $16m guaranteed Poyer to a 4 year deal worth around $25m with around $12m guaranteed.

Coincidentally all three of those players you listed are on the last year of their contracts. Maybe you missed that.

Wow! For those that don't remember, without Gaines level of play the Bills would have never have made it to the playoffs. He is a gamer and he thrives in this system. I thought the Bills were pretty much set at DB but there are now 3 guys who have a legitimate shot at starting opposite side of Tre.

Without trying to come off as some douche who thinks he knows it all but for whatever its worth, I was a part of sports program that were perennial state champions back 25 years ago and to this day they still are. The common thread is that there absolutely is a culture, and with that culture there is a process. That's the only way you can have sports programs that are consistent winners to have the success that they do which is to have a culture of success. That culture of success looks for certain type of individuals that have the "DNA" makeup that they are looking for and it all starts with the sport directors and coaches. They are taught to coach in a certain manner, to run the practices in a certain manner and it is all regimented. People in my opinion who scoff at the meaning of "process" just haven't been a part of successful sports programs. Because anyone who has and I don't mean a successful season, I mean a program that is consistently successful understands that without the process and without the culture, the success doesn't happen.

Are you implying that the term "process" is just some sort of empty coach speak that has little to no value/meaning?