billsfan89

So basically no update on Tre, injury looked pretty serious now it's maybe not as serious but who knows?

Good to hear, injuries are the worst part of football. Harmon was a really good prospect really was hoping he would fall to where the Bills could trade up a few spots for him. He simply was taken way too high for the Bills to make a trade up and Mad Max wasn't a bad pick at pick 30 in my opinion

Hamlin makes 2 million, he's paid like an lower mid-level backup. Not sure where you would get this idea that Hamlin saves 7 million?

Probably smart due diligence to check in with him on his medicals in mid-August and see if they need a body at WR come mid to late season they will know how far off Gabe could be or if he's just not ready.

Adams had more left in the tank but the cost for Adams was steeper cap wise whereas Cooper was much easier to add to the cap. Overall, I think the Bills made the right move at the time, in retrospect maybe the premium for Adams was worth it. I can't blame them too much as they were targeting Adams and it just didn't go their way and they pivoted to a smart option.

They did draft a corner in round 1 also Tre was a fairly cheap signing. I don't think they went into the season intending to rely on him...

Just not good

I think McBeane would easily give up a 1st plus some other stuff to make the trade happen if it wasn't for Scary Terry looking for a new contract. The Bills just don't really have the ability to stack on a 30 million dollar contract longer term it's just not sensible for them to do.

Hasn't Bishop been banged up?

I think all new stadiums going forward should be required to have real grass. If the league really cares about player safety they would make that a priority.

I think safety has become more important in the modern game given the increase in passing volume. But it's still a position where you could get by with competent play too. Mike Edwards was KC's starting safety in 2023 when KC had a very strong defense and he's the definition of a competent but not spectacular safety. While I am concerned about the safety play it's not like this team can't get by with Rapp a better than average starter and Hamlin a below average starter until they make a trade or get Bishop hopefully healthy and ready to contribute or get the rookie's feet wet either. It's not the glaring issue that I think people think it is at the moment.

I think if anyone is getting cut it is gonna be Forrest, seems like despite the experience he has he's been a complete non-factor. Hamlin has about 2 years of starting experience and he's at worst a quality backup caliber player. I would rather have Hamlin as a "steady hand" whose below average but at least makes most of the basic plays as he showed in 2024 than Forrest whose a non-factor. Cutting Hamlin whose also a willing and by all accounts solid ST player is also foolish. I get fans want someone better than Hamlin but there's other safeties on the roster who are worse...

I would hope that Tre as a vet former All-Pro knows this is an issue and usually has a remedy for it. Either Botox of specialized socks of some sort?

That's literally dam near every season of Hard Knocks Training Camp. Episode 1 is usually the intro to the team and the coaching staff mostly a puff piece to set up the narrative. Episode 2 it picks up a bit as you usually get the first pre-season game but it's still mostly just diving into the players personalities. Then Episodes 3-5 you really get a lot of "meat on the bone" when you see the aftermath of pre-season games and you get the round of cuts coming in. It's just the flow of Hard Knocks Training Camp that it's usually not heavy until Episodes 3-5.

10th round pick is different than a 1st overall pick. I think teams would be more than willing to throw a late round pick on a player if they gotta wait but a 1st overall pick and you won't see the guy play for at least 2 years is quite the gamble.

I think Bills fans throw around the term JAG way too loosely. Are Singletary and Knox home run picks in round 3? No. But they are/were capable starters certainly a nice "single" if we are sticking with the baseball analogy. Has Beane made mistakes like any GM? Yes. But the Bills are a top 5-6 drafting team in the league since 2017 and I don't care how good Josh Allen is if he didn't have a team capably built around him the team wouldn't be an 11 win team consistently. Look at the Bengals, they have a QB that's pretty close and they won 9 games last year as an example. A great QB papers over a lot but they can't paper over it all...

I'm thinking they could make a trade in season. I think they are gonna likely go with Bishop or Hamlin next to Rapp and see how it plays out for the first 4-5 weeks and then see if they need some help make a trade. It's not ideal but I can't also say that they didn't try to have some options with Forrest out there and adding a mid round pick.

Crazy that the Spurs drafted a player 1st overall at age 22 knowing he wasn't gonna be able to play for 2 seasons. Not sure if that would happen in today's NBA or any of the major leagues. But Robinson had a Hall of Fame Career so it was the right decision to wait the 2 years.

They basically allow you to defer your service owed to the army if you have a pro-sports contract with a qualified league. You still have to serve but it can get deferred for some time. Previously the army/navy was pretty strict with it, David Robinson had to do two years (I think the commitment was/is 5 years but Robinson had grown to 7 foot 1 during his college days and thus was too tall to serve on most ships so they lowered it to two years) after getting drafted first overall by the Spurs in the NBA draft. Since 2016 on and off (I think it was put into place by Obama and then rescinded by Trump and put back in by Trump, seemed a bit messy) but codified into law in 2022 you can try your hand in the NFL for a bit of time and then do your 5 year commitment afterwards. So yeah you still owe the time so to speak but you can pursue a pro-sports career before you do your time.

I like it, I think having Gabe on retainer or on the PS makes sense. At the very least kicking the tires and seeing what he has in the tank is prudent due diligence.

I wouldn't use a redraft as a good template because there's very few picks you wouldn't redraft with hindsight. That being said of course after year one and some pre-season games you really can't judge a rookie class. You can't really have a fully painted picture until year 3. But even just looking at the "early returns" the 2024 class is looking not bad at all. Keon and Davis were solid offensive contributors their rookie years. Even Bishop started games his rookie season and wasn't bad. Grable, Solomon, and SVPG all flashed potential as back end finds as well. I think the class is going to hinge on can Keon and Davis take a step up and have bigger roles on the offense, can Carter or Bishop be a starter or high end rotation player, and can a couple of the back end picks emerge as solid depth/role players? If they get 2 starters and 3-4 depth pieces and role players out of a draft class where they drafted late and traded away a pick for a 4th in the next years draft that is a positive draft class.

They would have had to trade up for DeJean or take him 33rd overall. DeJean was taken 40th Bishop was 60th.

I just don't put too much stock into it. A team came out flat when 90% of their starters weren't playing in a pre-season game. It happens, it isn't the end of the world. Of course the coach is going to be upset because he wants to have sharp executions always. But in the end this isn't something to be worried about to any significant degree.

Actually the Bills time of possession in 2024 was middle of the pack. Average TOP was 29 minutes 30 seconds last season. The Bills defense was elite in two respects one as mentioned was turnovers the team was 3rd in forced defensive turnovers. The second was red-zone defense the team had the 2nd highest red-zone defense (by TD allowed %). So yeah team drove on the Bills a lot but the defense produced turnovers or forced them into field goals. Even if the Bills get some regression in turnovers if they can maintain a high end red-zone defense and just get off on more third and longs they should be improved. But you don't always know what teams are working on in pre-season. Also it is human nature to underperform if your coaching staff isn't playing starters to think the game is a throwaway. I still take it with a grain of salt and I am not putting much stock into it. In fact it might be good to get smacked as it shakes things up.

I'm not gonna say the Bills 2024 defense was very good. I think they were a slightly above average defense. Capable of shutting down bad offenses and capable of handling average to better than average offenses but susceptible to get light up by top 10 offenses as they did have happen to them several times. But I think the least amount of punts forced is damming but I also think that is inflated by the Bills being 3rd in turnovers forced and the Bills being comfortable seeding field goals as they had a strong red-zone defense (29% TD percentage 2nd best in the league in terms of redzone defense). I think the Bills defense forcing a lot of turnovers and their philosophy to force their opponents to kick field goals to keep up with the offense of the Bills drove that stat. BUT what also drove that stat was the horrendous third down percentage. The Bills easily could have force 1 more punt a game by getting teams off on a long third down. So I do think that the third down defense is going to be a big factor for how much this team can improve.