billsfan89

I would actually say the model the Bills are employing is much more similar to the Celtics from 2016-17 to 2024-25 the Celtics were constantly a good team (with 2020-21 being the lone exception) that was making deep playoff runs and while its looking like that core isn't gonna be a multi-title dynasty they still had a great run of consistent success with two runs to the Finals and a title to show for it.

I think one of the best points of data is that in Europe and Japan where Ticketmaster/Live Nation have more competition costs to go to concerts are 30-40% lower and there's a lottery for bigger concerts so that fans can have access to face value tickets and ID is required to use the ticket so there's no scalping those tickets.

Chargers tickets in Sofi are crazy expensive (although cheaper than Rams games) due to the visiting teams fan bases flooding Sofi. Giants/Jets Bills games are rarely dirt cheap but they come down a lot off face value when the teams are bad.

Curious as to what the resale market is like because I want to go to a game this year and I'm likely to buy tickets likely week 4 but not sure when is the optimal time to do so. I've bought ticket for Giants/Jets Bills games in NJ and games at Sofi when I lived in CA usually finding that if the game is on Sunday Friday afternoonish is the best time to buy.

It was 11 although in 2023 as another poster mentioned they started with Von on the PUP so it was 10 but with the intention of adding Von back to 11. Von was for some reason listed as a LB but he's a DE. I can't see this staff with the care to D-line depth and rotating players along it going in with 9 D-Line. For one there's always injuries so if they go in with 10 by the time they have played 6 games there is likely to be some sort of injury to a D-line player that can have Larry O and Hoecht come back to bump it back up to 11. I just can't see this coaching staff going any lower than 10 DL at any point unless there is an injury and even then they will have a PS call up to round out the numbers.

The Bills typically carry 11 DL. I don’t see them going any less than 10 to start the season with two on suspension. I think they likely are gonna expect one injury to start the season in 6 games which will allow them to go from 9 back up to 11.

The cap savings aren’t huge and with Larry O’s suspension they don’t reallly have a 5th DT to supplant him. It’s Ed, the two draft picks, and Carter and Larry O who’s suspended for the first third of a season. So unless a undrafted or lesser known player is really turning it up I can’t see the bills moving on from Daquon

Advanced metrics in football can be flawed I would take them with a grain of salt. As a rookie I saw Keon have some struggle and some successes. Keon was a 21 year old rookie stepping into a big spot and he produced decently. He's a hard working guy with a good head for the game, I think he's gonna be better in year two but we will have to see.

"Some guys just lose their hunger (see: Oliver, Ed)." Ed Oliver had his best season in 2023 after he got his big contract. In 2024 he had about a good a season as he has had outside of 2023 (Ed in 2024 dominated the Lions top tier O-line and had some other good games granted some bad ones but that's most non truly elite players). Not sure where you are getting the idea Ed got paid and cashed out.

The schedule release is the most overhyped thing the NFL does and it annoys me for some reason. I get trying to plug something into the May calendar to keep the NFL in the news cycle but just announce the release during the draft and release it all in one day. It's just trying to get too much juice out of something that doesn't have a lot of meat on the bone.

Hard to say, I know when the Bills as a result of some international scheduling were given the choice to pick their bye week (I don't remember the exact detail I think this was a benefit given because they played the Jags in the Jags second week in London in 2023) I think McBeane took a bye week later in the season. I think given that there's only one bye for the playoffs teams probably prefer a bye later in the season. But also you could get his with a rash of nagging injuries early and could use a bye in week 6-8 so it is always a bit relative. I think the key thing is to have your playoff seeding locked up by week 18 so that you can have that last week of the regular season as a defacto bye week on top of your mid-season or later season bye. I think it made a big difference for the Bills in 2024 vs. 2023. In 2023 they had to chase down Miami and every week was a playoff game and I think the Bills were a bit more exhausted than KC in the Divisional round as even though KC was the 3 seed they locked everything up and rested their starters week 18 so while they didn't have the one seed bye they had pesudo bye. I think it made a big difference for the Bills in 2024 to not play starters in week 18. So there's a lot of ways to look at the schedule.

SOS is one of the least valuable metrics in the NFL prior to the season starting. First off it is highly reflective of the division you play in. About a touch over a third of your games are against your division. So if you are like the Bills and you don't have good divisional opponents it's gonna deflate your SOS. Of course even if let's say you play in an OK division SOS prior to the start of the season is kind of flawed because the NFL is the most variable sport there is. The Commanders went from drafting 2nd overall to making the NFCCG for example. Every year there's 3-4 teams (like the 49ers) who everyone suspects will be very good and they flounder and then there's 3-4 teams everyone thinks will stink (like the Commanders, Broncos, Vikings last year) who overachieve. It's just not really easy to project what your actual SOS is prior to the season. So I always toss it out. I've heard Bills fans going into the season talk about how "hard" the schedule is some years and then B word at the end of the season how the Bills didn't beat anyone and will lose in the wildcard round. So just take it all with a grain of salt.

The Bills are a top 4-5 drafting team in the league. I would say KC/Philly/Baltimore are firmly better I can't think of too many other teams I would say are better than the Bills the past 7-8 years.

I don't think the plan is necessarily to go into the season needing a in-season WR trade. I think they like Palmer and Keon as the outside WR's with a projected bounce back from Kincaid in year 3. I think the in-season WR trade is the "Plan B" Yes would I have liked the Bills to trade for DK and give him the contract but then you also have the argument that the defense has been the larger issue for playoff failures the past 5 years so if you trade a 2nd and a 5th for DK that's less defensive prospects and less cap space that you can allocate to fix the defense up. So there's no real "right" answer as to what is the best approach because either way there's some way you can critique moves.

I am not disagreeing totally but I also think having a top 9 passing attack in terms of raw yards is pretty good when considering the context of the Bills having a lot of games where they were up big and very successfully grinding out the clock with a good running game means that passing yards are likely to be deflated a bit. I do think however had the team not made the addition of Cooper it would have struggled more at times offensively. I know Cooper's output in terms of raw numbers wasn't great but his presence on the outside completely changed how defenses approached the offense. KC for example played the Bills defensively where they "dared" the Bills to beat them 1v1 on the outside and Cooper had those two long catches on the sidelines and KC stopped doing that and it opened up more underneath. And unless Palmer is the guy they think as far as winning 1 v 1 matchups on the outside and/or Keon takes that next step to being more consistent I do think there's gonna be a move made at WR to have that consistent (or at least more than respectable) 1 v 1 guy on the outside. I think the Bills front office is very prudent and let's be honest the pickings at WR in terms of a true outside boundary difference maker both in the draft and in free agency/trades were weaker. DK was the big one and I think the Bills front office decided that the cap costs and the draft cost was just too steep the rest were either guys who were more slot WR's or just weren't really available or cost too much (like D.Adams). The draft also didn't have a lot of true outside WR's and the value/need on defense made more sense. Overall I think them going with the approach of stress testing the WR's early and then seeing if they need to do a in season WR move makes the most sense as it is easier to fit the cap numbers once the big bonuses have been paid as have 5-6 weeks of salary by the trading team.