billsfan89

Hamlin also is a willing and decent special teams player. I think largely that’s why he got brought back to compete for a spot in camp.

I think you are mistaking what I was saying. I was saying that East Rutherford despite all that is built in the Meadowlands the town of East Rutherford largely remains a fairly quaint suburban town (population of about 10k). Orchard Park to me despite hosting the Bills stadium doesn’t aspire to be a major city. I’m sure both towns have initiatives they want to move on but I don’t see either as wanting to become larger cities

I am surprised that Steve Balmer (who owns the Clippers in the NBA worth over 100 billion made from mostly Microsoft) never bought an NFL team. He’s been in rumors to buy the Seahawks and he loves owning The Clippers. NFL/NBA seasons overlap but not that much where you can’t own both and give attention to both. East Rutherford NJ hosts MetLife Stadium, the American Dream Mall (which is the largest in the USA), a racetrack and a tenantless Izod Center. It is a fairly small suburb not looking to expand into some Metropolis. Orchard Park always struck me as a similar place.

Camp reports incoming time to obsessively research fantasy football. We truly are on the cusp of football season.

To me he was more of a depth reclamation project. Could add nice depth could be cut before the season

Chubb’s always been a locker room leader in his career. So while I like the fit on the field I think this is also a good move for a culture that while usually not an issue in the later stages of the McD era is a bigger positive for a first year HC/DC.

Rex Ryan in 2015 was a B-tier retread. His star had faded from his first two years with the Jets where he had 4 playoff wins. He did have some overachieving years where he got 8 wins out of a team that should have had 4-5 in those later Jets seasons but he ran his course there. But Rex was at least someone who had he not been signed as the Bills head coach in 2015 would have been a top tier DC candidate. The Rex hire was as you mentioned way less depressing and a sign of the Bills somewhat improved standing in the league. Chan was a maybe not even a C-tier retread he probably was a D-tier retread. Chan prior to being hired by the Bills as HC in 2010 last two stops was 2002-2007 as a college coach in Georgia Tech, he was 44-32 with two lower mid-level bowl game wins. A decent run but not one that really elevated GA Tech he got fired there and the program the two seasons after he left they improved. The last stop before the Bills was one season for a 2-14 KC Chiefs team in 2008 that had a horrendous offense. The guy the Bills hired as a head coach was coming off a decent but not even good college run and a horrible one and done season as an OC (and it wasn't even like Chan's resume prior was all that impressive). The Chan hire was made all the more depressing when you consider The Bills that off-season were in fact one of only 3 Head Coaching vacancies. The Redskins and Seahawks were the only other jobs open. The Redskins hired Shanny while the Seahawks hired Pete Carroll. So the Bills were literally the only other opening for any up and coming coordinator or college head coach and they managed to land a D-tier retread.

Glad to hear it, the Bills will need at least one more high quality season out of him. The Bills have some developmental prospects at LT (Bowry early 4th round pick this past draft and Grable developing in year 3) but with the absence of Van Denmark there's no decent proven backup at LT. So Dawkins giving the team one more high quality season at age 32 (an age where Tackles still play at or near a prime level) is a big deal. It would allow the current developmental guys an added year to marinate and keep an elite O-line elite.

Before my time but I imagine those were some lackluster times to be a fan.

The early 2010’s were such a miserable Bills era. Outside of the hot start to 2011 which faded quick there’s not much to the Bills that inspired much hope. In the Williams/Mularky/Jauron eras the Bills seemed like a below average team with bad luck and some flawed decisions. It was bad but the drought hadn’t quite mounted to an insane double digit level yet. But after they finally moved off of Jauron they brought in a lackluster hire in Chan Gailey (a third tier retread) and then seemingly had an owner who was unable to compete fiscally so the Bills were handicapped on the salary cap. It just seemed like the Bills were never going to be good honestly. There were too many impediments under late era Ralph Wilson. There were some moments of fun but overall the 2010-2012 era was probably my least favorite Bills run.

Where’s Super Nintendo Chalrmers?

There’s also a lot of revenue that is not fully accounted for in the CBA and all sorts of other ways they can report revenue which while not illegal can make losses look bigger. There’s only one team that reports their revenues and profits yearly (The Green Bay Packers) and the Packers most years barring big renovations make a profit. So while I do think NFL teams sometimes lose money I don’t think they have these consistent losses they say they do.

Owners claim to lose money on operating the teams most years. I don’t buy it but they do claim to lose money on operating the teams most years.

I think this is a case where a vet guy probably doesn't want to do training camp and the early slog of the regular season. Likely a case where come early October he will sign with the team and then work his way in if there's an injury or lackluster production. That would be my guess.

They usually wait a year or two before cost cutting because they want to build some goodwill or make fans forget a new owner took over and then immediately cut costs.