billsfan89

He was supposedly better when he went to the Ravens but the Ravens also played him a low amount of snaps per game

What’s to be gained even though the public pays for a portion of the stadium you still gotta shell out money and I don’t think there’s that much additional luxury boxes you can put in as stadium design 25-30 years ago was to put in as much of that as possible. The old multi purpose facilities from the 60’s-80’s were truly dated and somewhat ugly. But by the time you hit the late 90’s stadium designes were much more modern. Im not seeing the money play here but maybe there’s something I am missing.

I do wonder why that is? 30 years seems to be the target now when in the past teams would typically do renovations around 25-30 years and do a replacement after 40-50. You think a stadium built 20-25 years ago has the ability to be renovated to keep up with the times nor would it be all that outdated to begin with. The Super dome gets renovations every 5-8 years and it’s hosting Super Bowls

I wouldn't read much into it either way. Defense is usually a bit "ahead" of offenses in the first 4-5 days of training camp. Offensive line will continue to be solid. Lots of continuity and talent there with good coaching and no one is really "old" besides Dawkins whose what 30/31?

If you are interested in the guy you give Josh the final approval. Sometimes a lot of these rival players like to "have that guy on my side" mentality. But given that Josh is who the whole franchise is built around and Wilkinson is a fringe acquisition Josh gets to have "veto power" on the signing.

I don't think Elam or Maybin were considered massive reaches at the time. McCargo was considered a massive reach at the time for example. He was drafted in the late 1st and many pundits and evaluators had him as a early to mid 3rd round talent. Elam was considered by most to be a firm top 30ish talent in the draft at a decently valued position. He went 24th that's right in that range. Maybin was considered a late 1st rounder very early 2nd rounder early in the process and then roster up into the "mid-1st" range in the evaluation process. Maybin was drafted 10th not that far off from a mid-1st round position. I didn't like the Elam pick at the time because I thought he might not be a scheme fit and I thought go offensive line protect Josh but let's not pretend it was a McCargo level reach either.

My reading comprehension was not very good on that one! I agree I would take him over Jones. But he doesn't seem like a player Beane would want to bring in. Then again the Pats in the Brady era were always willing to take chances on a few "Bad Apples" because they felt like their culture was strong enough that they could either quickly get rid of or "shape up" a guy with a bad rep. Most of the time the guys they kicked tires on malcontents it didn't work out (Chad Johnson, Albert Haynesworth, Antonio Brown, Josh Gordon, and Michael Floyd) but the few times they hit it was usually a pretty big win everyone knows Randy Moss but they also hit on Corey Dillion and Aquib Talib. I think McD for all the critiques you can have of him (some legit some not in my opinion) has built a very strong culture here. I think if Beane thinks there's meat on the bone with a "bad apple" now and again on a low risk contract I don't see why you can't take a risk. They tried with Claypool last season and he got hurt. If Wilkinson is brought in I don't see the issue. DT despite the Saunders pick in round 2 and the Walker pick in round 4 as well as the Larry O acquisition is still a bit of a softer spot on the roster. Kicking the tires on Wilkinson who has high end upside might not be the worst idea.

I think Elam could be a good find for Dallas. The Bills just drafted the wrong fit for their scheme.

Hoping that this is just a cramp or something. I hate to see injuries.

Jones probably Oliver no. Yea Wilkins when he was with the Fins was dam good. But a year with the Raiders hurt and supposedly not taking rehab seriously? Give me the more reliable and still good Oliver. But if Beane wants to kick the tires and protect Josh’s nuts and sign him I wouldn’t mind

With Cook in camp I think Beane likely made some sort of deal with Cook's agent to at least not franchise him if they can't agree to a contract. Makes sense for both sides. Keeps Cook motivated and in with the team while his agent gets him a concession that allows him to ball out and prove his worth without getting tagged and in a similar situation next off-season. I think they will possibly get a deal done in the 12-13 million range with 20ish million in additional guarantees but that's just me guessing.

NE has to set up their young QB for success to really know what they have getting a top flight WR for 2-3 years would allow them to take advantage of their current rookie QB contract (you can ensure you have a plateable out after 2-3 years so that if you have to pay your QB you can get out from under the deal) and let them know if their QB is the real deal or not. I think it makes sense for NE to do so. Similar to the Texans taking on Diggs last season. Ideally you would like a younger WR age 27/28 like when the Bills added Diggs but WR's can play at or near a prime level till around age 32/33 so if you get 2-3 good years that's gonna help your young QB.

It pissed me off finding out that the rapper Travis Scott was a stage name. Like you could have picked any name and you went with Travis Scott?

The Bills compare decently against KC in terms of dead cap from 2020 onward. The only year the Bills ranked very high in dead cap was 2024 which the Bills were clearing a lot of vets off as well as the Diggs deal. 2025 the Bills are middle of the pack thanks to the Von deal. The Bills will likely be lower end of the middle of the spectrum again in 2026 thanks to Milano and a few other charges. KC was a middle of the road dead cap team from 2018-2021 but has been on the lower end of dead cap hits since 2022. I think KC’s roster construction has been fairly good in terms of dead cap. They basically sign their top 10-12 guys and then let any other larger salaries go and fill in the rest of the roster with players on rookie deals, players on lower mid level contracts, or stop gap vets on cheap deals. So far because their drafting has been good in recent seasons it’s sustained them.

Cody and Boogie were also not looked at as reaches at the time of their drafting. Ford was considered an upper 2nd round fring 1st round prospect. So going around where he did was considered solid value. Then Boogie was considered a mid to late 2nd round pick and that's right in the range he went to. We all want high picks to be home runs but drafting even in the first 2-3 rounds is still an inexact process and even the best drafting organizations wiff high up.

Good for him! He deserves a chance to get one last chance with the NFL.

I would argue Dawkins and Brown are better offensive players than Cook, but I do think the Bills are willing to pay him. The issue is likely a matter of price and guarantees.

Good for Cook to report, I suspect that means the relationship between the agent and the team is solid enough to where they feel like there's at least two options. One let Cook play out the season and agree to not franchise him or come to a contract extension that both sides are fine with.

On paper seems accurate to say the Bills have better than average front line talent and elite depth. One thing that makes me think the front 7 is better than in the past is the general upside having some younger talent added. Three rookies plus two second year guys on the D-line have a lot of potential upside. But as is a lower top 10 front 7 seems fair.

Commanders added a vet leader to their defense. How much does Von have left in the tank? Enough to possibly be a situational pass rusher and get 4-5 sacks on not a ton of snaps? Possibly. If anything your locker room adds a Super Bowl MVP who at best can slot in as a role player. His time here was cooked, he did the Bills a solid in 2024 reworking his contract but the Bills cut their losses.

If he's healthy I think he gets it. Mid to upper 30's passing TD's and 8-10 rushing TD's seems doable. Cook vultured a lot of TD's on the ground last season so there's room for positive regression in total passing TD's that could easily compensate for a lower level of Josh rushing TD's. Secondly while the defense was bad at times last year the defense also was good against bad to average offenses. The Bills got elite defensive performances in 6 games last year letting up on 14 or less points. All 6 of those games were blowouts. The Bills were nursing leads late in about 8 games last year plus the one blowout loss against the Ravens. So the argument that the Bills defense could be improved and lead to more blowouts and less shootouts is also a bit flawed because about 9 games last year were blowouts for or against the Bills. So the regression there is not likely to be major. The Bills defense gave up a ton of points in shoot out situations against the Fins second game (27 points), Rams (48 points), Lions (42 points a little window dressing on that but still left the door open for Josh to have to score more), and Cards opening day (28 points). Only other game where the Bills gave up massive points was in the Ravens loss and that was not a shoot out given the offenses lack of matching production. So that's only 5 games where the defense gave up more than 23 points. The defense even if it improves and clamps down on 1-2 more games that's not a lot of negative regression either. The Bills also did not play Josh against the Pats in week 18. I hope the Bills are getting that same chance to rest starters because they got their seed (2 or better) locked up but it is possible for Josh to get a full games worth of additional opportunities for TD's if needed.

It also depends on your draft capital. If you have 7 picks in the top 100 plus 5-6 other picks in later rounds you gotta come up with more than 2 starters. The Bills in 2023 effectively had 4 picks as they traded out of two sixth round selections to go back down deep into round 7 to get additional picks for 2024. The trade downs in 2023 were a smart business move by Beane, underrated job of being a GM is to anticipate needing future selections, as the Bills a very veteran heavy roster going into the 2023 draft they probably figured that was the last go for a lot of vets on that team and they needed to acquire more volume for the 2024 draft as they probably projected the mini-rebuild they would head into. But the Bills getting 2 starters (plug and play out of their rookie years) on offense and possibly a third defensive starter on a draft where you didn't have a ton of picks (6 total and most of the picks slotted towards the back of each round is an A or A- draft. Of course if Kincaid doesn't rebound and Williams never amounts to more than a fringe starter I would put that more around a C but if they can get 3 quality players with limited draft capital that's a big positive.

He seems like an unsung hero guy because his sack totals are good (6/10.5/8) he’s been durable and known to be an elite run defender. Seems like he’s Groot but with a touch more pass rush pop which is probably why he got paid a bit more. Overall both guys seem like their extensions made sense for their level of production

I don’t know if he’s gonna be a star but I like Cole Bishop as a breakout guy. He was a 2nd round pick for good reason and while he was a little up and down his rookie year when forced into action he improved somewhat as the year went on. He put a lot on Tape some good some bad and I think an elite DB coaching staff will coach him up and get him to be a high end starter at safety. I also like Landon Jackson longer term. I think he’s gonna add some pop to the back end of the rotation his rookie year but by year 2-3 I could see him being a monster.

All fair points. Williams I think he just needed experience and tape to work off of. He certainly got a lot of that last season and now he has a whole offseason to work on it and a full camp and preseason. And if he’s not ready Milano even though he’s more injury prone should hopefully give you 4-6 weeks at least before he gets hurt which is more practice time and an easier transition into a starting role than he had last season where Milano had gotten hurt early in camp. I think he’s already a serviceable starter but I think he needs to take a step up and be more consistent which I think he can. Kincaid I think just needs to be healthy to really see what he can bring. If he’s just about what he was his rookie year he’s a top 10 TE in the league but not in the top 5 and that’s not great from a 1st rounder but not a bust either