billsfan89

This season I think it is better the Bills fly under the radar a bit. The Jets are getting a lot of headlines with the Rodgers acquisition and the Bengals and KC are getting a lot of hype as well. The Bills have quietly put together a nice off-season improving the O-line (and O-line depth) and adding Kincaid as a weapon to the offense while adding some smaller pieces like Hardy and Sheffield. The ST unit also will see Hines returning the whole season and Hardy returning as well and should remain a strong unit that might be modestly better given the upgrade at both returner spots to start the season. However, the inverse of last season I do have some significant concerns about the defense. Last year the only player coming off a major injury was Tre, this season Hyde and Von are coming off serious injuries and Poyer is coming back after being banged up a lot (Not to mention all three are a year older) and the defense lost Edumonds whose loss, in my opinion, will be felt. While McBeane did add some depth at safety with Rapp and made a nice signing with Poona Ford I see some questions on the defensive side of the ball. I think defensively the Bills will fall to be a good but not great unit. Edumonds absence will be felt and I think age/injury will show in some capacity with Hyde/Poyer/Von. If the Bills can get some good development from Groot/AJ/Boogie/Elam/Benford and a contract year performance from Ed Oliver and a bounce back from Tre (further removed from a serious injury) and the older players hold up decently then the unit can be a top 5 unit. But that is a lot to break right. In reality, not all the young guns will develop and some of the older players will regress or get hurt. Hopefully, more breaks are right than goes wrong. But I was more than willing given the limited resources of the team to have the offense be the focus of the off-season and it for the most part was. I would rather invest in Josh and the offense even if it meant the defense takes a step down.

Wouldn’t hate bringing him back as a backup we could do worse for a sixth corner

The AFC is very stacked. You have several powerhouse teams KC, Bills, and Cincy all are about as close to "complete" teams as possible. Then you two teams in my opinion are just under the three powerhouse teams in the Jets, Jaguars and Ravens who while they may have a hole or two are not that far off. Then you have a large group of tough teams that can all easily win 10 games or more if things break right. The Steelers, Browns, Dolphins, Patriots, Chargers, Raiders and Broncos are in that mix. The only truly rebuilding teams are the Titans, Colts and Texans who are likely at least a year away from anything meaningful. It's a slog in the AFC but it was similar last year too.

Looking forward to seeing McD call the defense. I wonder how McD will compensate for the loss of Edumonds and possibly missing Von for part of the season? It will be interesting to see what goes on with the play calling.

2022 was Davis's first year being a true WR2 and he had his struggles. He wasn't tragic but he wasn't the 1000-yard WR2 we all hoped he could be. The nagging ankle injury certainly didn't help but I do hope that Gabe has a better year in 2023. Contract year will certainly be some solid motivation and I think having a year being a primary WR will help him. Hopefully, the coaches coach him up and he learns from the tape. The Bills certainly need him to step into that WR2 role more consistently. While I love the addition on Kincaid rookie TE's historically tend to have modest impacts and while I do think Shakir can develop more the onus will still be on Davis to provide a consistent threat opposite Diggs.

I definitely am feeling a lot better about the offense in 2023 than I was going into 2022. I was really concerned about the O-line going into 2022, mainly Saffold at guard and the overall depth was massively lacking. From 2019 to 2021 the Bills had solid depth along the O-line. They usually went 8 deep with at least 3 quality backup O-line players behind the starting five. Players like Bates, Ty Nesheke, and others were on the bench entering the season. Going into 2022 not only was there a questionable situation with Saffold being a vet stop-gap but also the only decent backup was Queese. Going into 2023 not only is the guard situation much better with Torrence and McGovern the depth is a lot stronger. Bates is likely moved back to the bench which given his versatility is a big addition to the O-line's depth then the team added Edwards who helps the guard depth and brought back Queese who is a decent backup. That is in addition to the players they are kicking the tires on like Ike. While I would like a swing tackle who can compete with Brown and backup Dawkins the depth is at least credible to start the season. While the starting O-line is much better at guard in my opinion. After the O-line, I do feel like having Hines in as a gadget player/third-down back for the whole is going to be helpful (along with Hines kick return abilities helping the ST unit). While Cook as the lead back with Stevenson as the primary backup/power back makes me feel like at RB the team will likely be slightly better. Then at WR/TE I think that in addition to Kincaid adding a big receiving body the additions of Sheffield and Hardy over Mac and Kumerow provide a small upgrade while I hope Shakir and Davis develop more. Josh should have a better complement of targets to throw to in 2023. I don't think Shorter will have much of an impact in 2023 but I could be wrong, certainly a body added there. Overall I do think that McBeane did a pretty solid job on the offensive side of the ball in the off-season given the limited resources. The O-line is significantly better while the pool of targets for Josh is better and the RB situation is slightly better as well.

To be fair to the Bills Ariza’s release may have been to his benefit, it gave him time and energy to clear his name. The Bills did not want to deal with the distractions and Ariza need to get the situation straightened out. I don’t think Ariza will play for the Bills but there may not be as much bad blood as thought

I think in the end the McBeane wants tremendously improved Oline depth and that hopefully means Torrence being plug and play at RG and McGovern being the above average starter he was signed to be. Then that moves Bates to first Oline off the bench at all three interior positions and possibly RT and maybe even LT. Add in Edwards as a solid backup along the guard spots and Queese As a decent backup RT and you have three decent to good backups off the bench. Definitely deeper than last year

I am not sure why they didn’t bring in Better competition for Brown. Queese is a decent backup but nothing more than that. I hope that in addition to adding a vet the McBeane goes after a swing tackle in late stage free agency. As there really isn’t a backup for Dawkins and more competition at RT would be a bonus. I get the idea that Brown with a healthy off season can regain his form a bit and develop more but more options and depths in case that doesn’t happen would be nice

Genuinely asking, why do you feel that way? Seems like this is a defensive player that the Bills had their eye on since the early stages of free agency. Either way I like the deal.

I think the impact will be solid 500ish yards 5ish TD's which will be a nice addition to the offense as I don't think his production will come at the expense of Knox who I also think will have 500-600 yards and 5ish TD's similar to his last two seasons. Getting 1000 yards from two TE's combined as opposed to the 625 yards the Bills got from Knox/Morris last season is a solid boost to the offense. The Bills will need to see more production from Shakir and Davis (along with Hines who will be there the whole season) while hoping Hardy can surpass what Mac gave the team last season. If all those things fall together and the Bills can still get 1200+ yards from Diggs as a WR1 I think the offense will be much better and more balanced.

The Bills have attempted to put Josh in a better situation in 2023 than they did in 2022. The O-line is much better heading into 2023 both in terms of starters and depth. The Bills are much better at guard having McGovern over Saffold and the depth is much better with Bates likely going back to the bench and Edwards and Queese also on the bench. Even if Brown struggles like he did in 2022 the O-line will still (given a reasonable amount of health) be much or at least somewhat better. But I do agree if Brown can develop into a startling caliber RT like he has flashed the potential to be then the Bills O-line could be a top 5-7 unit in the league. If Brown is more like he was in 2022 likely will grade out as a 12-17 type unit. The Bills also added Kincaid to the list of targets Josh will have and replaced Mac and Kumerow with Hardy and Sheffield which could represent smaller upgrades as well. The Bills also have Hines in for the whole season who will make for a nice addition as a gadget target. I also like what the Bills have on ST better going into 2023 than 2022. Hines as a kick returner the whole season will help and Hardy is a beast PR. While the Bills ST unit was good in 2022 it might be better in 2023 given the upgrades at returner. The main concern will be the defense, while I think the defense if reasonably healthy should at worst be an average defense a lot hinges on the defense being able to be a top 5-10 unit. Edumonds is a loss that will have an impact, can Hyde and Poyer stay healthy, can Tre come back to form being longer removed from the ACL, can Von come back from injury and repeat his 2022 pre-injury production and can some of the younger D-line and secondary players develop more? A lot on the defensive side of the ball can break positively and negatively. While I don't expect it all to go one way or another I do hope the Bills see more positive breaks than negative ones.

I always like taking later-round chances on players who were productive on the field but maybe underwhelmed during the "testing" process. While I do get the importance of an athletic profile having a high level of skill and on-field production is still a really good measurement that sometimes gets heavily undervalued.

The success of the 2023 season is going to come down to a few factors. 1- Luck/Health - Winning in football is heavily dependent on health and luck. That's the case with every season. 2- Impact from Kincaid and Cyrus/McGovern on changing the complexion of the offense. Will McGovern and Cyrus make a huge impact on the O-line play and what impact will Kincaid have on the receiving corps. 3- Development of key younger players - on offense Spencer Brown, Davis and Shakir will be critical to the success of the offense. On defense, the development of Groot, Boogie, AJ, Elam and Benford will be instrumental to how the defense comes up. 4- Return from injury by Von and Tre. Two key vets coming back from injuries the defense will need them. Those are the key components to the season.

As much as I would have liked the Bills to select Jones I think the worry has to be that in addition to speed rush concerns he also might have a hard time staying healthy. We see how hard it has been for Spencer Brown to stay healthy at the same height and 50-60 pounds lighter.

I love taking more Oline help, but that Oline room is looking crowded in a good way. Hopefully they find a way to keep all of the talent.

Seems like a solid late round pick, one place on the roster where I trust McBeane’s evaluations are the secondary. The team needed some help on the back end of the CB room and they got a player to develop.

I would have preferred some of the other WR’s on the board but this seems like a case of the Bills drafting an athlete and hoping to take a year or two to develop him. Shorter certainly is a tremendous athlete. Great build and good speed for his size. But for various reasons he never put together consistent production in the NCAA. Hopefully the Bills coaches know how to take his raw tools and turn him into a good pro. Likely won’t see the field much his rookie year unless it is ST but still as a WR6 having a guy with that athletic profile is not a bad thing.

I don’t see what there isn’t to like about this pick?

Would love it if Simpson were there at pick 91.

Amazing pick putting the best draft resources around Josh.

I would love to add D Hop if the cap numbers are solid and the cost is moving down from 27 to 34. The Bills can still get good impact at 34. But it just seems unlikely the Bills can get such a complex cap move done in such a short period of time. But stranger things have happened I guess.

Trading down from 27 to 34 would amount to the cost of roughly a third round pick. That seems like fair value but you are correct how would the deal be structured?

The best value the Bills can get is likely having Oliver play out the last test of his contract and then getting a comp pick for him if he gets a big contract

It comes down to right player right system. The Bills need to identify a good WR and get him, doesn’t matter when and where.